Hewitt sentencing postponed

The sentencing of convicted pedophile Bob Hewitt has been postponed. Photo: ANA

The sentencing of convicted pedophile Bob Hewitt has been postponed. Photo: ANA

Published Apr 17, 2015

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Pretoria - The sentencing of convicted paedophile Bob Hewitt has been postponed to allow a criminologist to construct a report for his defence.

The former doubles tennis champion was convicted in March by High Court Judge Bert Bam, who said that Hewitt must be punished for “shrewd” and “calculated” grooming of young girls for sex.

The 75-year-old was found to have raped and indecently assaulted three of his teenage and pre-teen pupils in the 1980s and 1990s, a case which took decades to come to trial.

On Friday morning at the High Court in Pretoria, Hewitt’s lawyer, Terry Price, said that he was unable to secure the court record from Hewitt’s trial to hand over to a respected criminologist, Professor Dap Louw, who would construct a report taking into account the case in its entirety without bias.

“(Hewitt) is facing a custodial sentence to a lengthy stay in prison,” he told the court, saying he was worried he himself could not do justice to Hewitt’s sentencing proceedings with argument alone.

Price said that once the court record was obtained, it would take a month for the professor to put together the report, which he admitted may not go in the defence’s favour.

However, he said there was a possibility there would be a chance Louw could recommend alternative sentencing.

He said the criminologist would ideally like to interview all parties involved in the case, including the complainants, Theresa “Twiggy” Tolken, Suellen Sheehan and a third woman who cannot be identified in the media by court order.

He also indicated the court record would be needed for the inevitable application for leave to appeal.

While Judge Bam appeared irritated at the delay, he said he could not pre-judge what the report would say, and was willing to allow a postponement to May 18.

Meanwhile, Tolken – who had flown from New Zealand to attend today’s proceedings – and Sheehan were both frustrated at the delay.

Red-eyed with disappointment, Sheehan said she refused to meet with the defence’s criminologist, as everything she wanted to say was said during trial.

The pair also said they understand the judge’s reasoning, and that after two years of court proceedings, another month wouldn’t kill them.

“We are simply hoping for a jail sentence,” said Tolken.

In his judgment last month, Bam said Hewitt took advantage of the love and admiration of his barely teenage tennis students. In 1981, when Hewitt was already 41 years old, he encouraged the puppy love of 12-year-old Tolken, pretending to love her back with a hidden agenda, to keep her under his influence.

“After having manipulated the girls to get them under his spell, and after having groomed them, and after they had fallen in love with him, the accused proceeded to have intercourse with them without needing their express consent… The accused abused the children’s trust in him,” he said.

The judge believed that Hewitt had been “calculated” and “shrewd” in planning his crimes, and even during the rape of Suellen Sheehan in his car in a parking lot – a usually public space – he was clever enough to ensure a third party not discover them.

He insisted that despite the age of the incidents, some committed over thirty years ago, “time did not erase the crimes”.

The state’s evidence against the accused is “overwhelming and unassailable,” said Bam.

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The Star

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