Johannesburg - When Bob Hewitt was convicted in March on two counts of child rape and one of indecent assault, the excitement in the High Court in Palm Ridge was palpable.
Suellen Sheehan, the woman who the former tennis champion had raped when she was a prepubescent, ran from the courtroom to conceal her tears of joy.
But on Monday, when Hewitt was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of R100 000 to fund anti-abuse campaigns, the complainants’ happiness was dulled by the judge’s decision to give Hewitt one last night of freedom.
Sheehan and another complainant, Theresa “Twiggy” Tolken, had expected Hewitt to be taken immediately to prison from the High Court in Pretoria, the last bit of closure they needed to move on with their lives.
But Judge Bert Bam, while providing a damning judgment that characterised Hewitt as a “violator of children”, granted Hewitt’s legal team’s request that his bail be extended until Tuesday, when he applies for leave to appeal against the conviction and sentence.
Tolken and Sheehan’s faces dropped when they realised that rather than being taken from the court in handcuffs, the 75-year-old would be able to spend a final night with his wife Delaille instead.
Hewitt was convicted in March of raping Sheehan and Tolken during the 1980s, and indecently assaulting a third complainant, who cannot be named, in the mid-1990s.
Thirty years passed before Hewitt had to account in court. Tolken flew in from her home in New Zealand for the case.
Tolken said she would provide a statement after Tuesday’s application, but Sheehan spoke to The Star.
“It still hasn’t sunk in. I’m disappointed he didn’t go today, but I am happy that he’ll be in prison,” she said.
Sheehan said that despite her parents testifying against her during the trial, a court of law had vindicated her.
“I’ve been believed. That’s all that matters,” she said.
The defence attempted on Monday morning to present Facebook messages from Sheehan’s personal page on which she and her friends had apparently insulted Hewitt.
Defence lawyer Terry Price also showed pictures of a celebration Sheehan had on the day Hewitt was originally meant to be sentenced last month, with Price declaring her to be “exceedingly arrogant”.
When Judge Bam said that arguing the merits of the case was irrelevant and that the lawyer was wasting the court’s time, Price exploded and threatened to walk out.
“Your lordship is to speak to me with respect,” he said, claiming that Judge Bam had victimised him from the beginning of the trial.
But Judge Bam stood firm that Price continue with his arguments, but that he refrain from mentioning the merits of the case or focusing on the actions of the complainants.
Hewitt and his wife Delaille were brought to the stand in mitigation of sentence.
Hewitt claimed he had been victimised through anonymous letters, signed with fake signatures from other tennis professionals.
He said the writers had called him a paedophile, had insulted his wife, and told him he “would need Vaseline in prison”.
Hewitt said he and Delaille had suffered greatly since his conviction.
He said Delaille had lost her enthusiasm for life, lost weight in the past weeks and that, as a couple, they had become increasingly reclusive.
On the stand, Delaille began sobbing at what she said had become an “unbearable” situation.
She told the court her children had been humiliated.
Delaille insisted that she, her family or those close to the family would never believe the rape allegations.
“I have never had to beg before, but I am asking your lordship, from the bottom of my heart, to please let Bob return with me to the (family) farm,” she said through her tears.
The Star