Johannesburg - The drug addiction history of a struggle icon’s grandson is likely to be the focus of his second bail application hearing on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old suspect is due to make his third appearance in the Johannesburg Regional Court on Tuesday since the allegations of rape emerged against him last week.
On Friday, magistrate Pieter du Plessis, who is presiding in the bail application, ordered the State to obtain the drug rehabilitation history of the accused and include it in the court records.
The court also ordered the State to present an authentic birth certificate or ID of his rape accuser.
This was after the alleged rapist had, during his last court appearance, submitted a sworn affidavit in which he claimed the sex he had with his accuser was consensual.
While the affidavit wasn’t read out in court, the man’s claim to sexual consent was pointed out by the magistrate.
The accused’s affidavit and three other supporting affidavits were directly given to the magistrate. Du Plessis personally read through all the affidavits before presiding over the application.
The alleged victim’s age is also likely to dominate the proceedings, including allegations that she lied to gain access to the restaurant by pretending to be 18.
Last week, the accused told the court that the girl’s Facebook account stated that she was born in February 1999.
“This makes her 16 years old,” he said through his counsel, advocate Nico Swart.
It wasn’t clear what prompted the magistrate to seek the accused’s history of drug rehabilitation or whether he had, in his bid to be released on bail, written in his affidavit that he was a “recovering drug addict”.
According to the charge sheet, the alleged rape and sexual assault happened at a restaurant – Mama’s Shebeen – in Greenside, Joburg.
Previous media reports have described the struggle icon’s grandson as an outpatient at a drug rehab centre. It was also reported that when he was under the influence of drugs, he would act strangely. He was also reported to be a frequent visitor of drug dens and drug dealers in Hillbrow. These reports date from 2013.
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The Star