Cape Town - A young man is expected to go on trial in the Western Cape High Court over the rape and murder of a university student at a New Year’s Eve rave party.
He appeared in court briefly on Friday for a pre-trial meeting.
The man, who has yet to plead to the charges, is alleged to have attended a rave party with Sharisha Chauhan at an estate in Paarl on December 31 last year. The State alleges that sometime around midnight, he, Chauhan and some of their friends took drugs and went dancing. Chauhan started feeling unwell shortly thereafter and went to rest in the tent she had allegedly been sharing with the accused.
“Approximately an hour later the accused called for assistance and (Chauhan) was observed in the tent, naked and appearing to be experiencing a fit. The accused was with (Chauhan) at all times,” read one of the State’s documents, setting out its allegations of what took place that night.
Although medical attendants treated Chauhan, who was then taken to a nearby hospital, she died the next day. The State contended that a post-mortem report showed that Chauhan’s death was “consistent with manual strangulation” and that “drugs may have played a contributory role”.
The accused has been charged with one count of rape and another of murder.
In court on Friday, the matter was postponed to April 24 to allow time for expert medical assessments.
Prosecutor Susan Galloway said the case was “basically based on medical evidence” and that the defence had indicated they would call their own experts. The defence said there was an “indication of drugs” and that the impact of that was not readily clear. They required expert assessments in order to determine the points of dispute.
In a separate and unrelated case that came before the court for a pretrial meeting on Friday, a man accused of attacking another man - the boyfriend of a woman with whom he is alleged to have been involved in a relationship - with a knife before removing his heart and eating it, also appeared.
The accused, Zimbabwean citizen Andrew Chimboza, faces one count of murder.
The State believes that on the night of June 10 he visited the woman’s Gugulethu home.
It alleges that Chimboza gave the woman R50 to buy drinks and that she left with a friend, leaving Chimboza and the woman’s boyfriend, Mbuyiselo Michael Manona, alone. The State alleges that Chimboza attacked Manona, stabbing him several times with a knife before “removing his heart and eating it”.
Chimboza is next expected in court on Friday.
Cape Times