WARNING: Graphic testimony
Johannesburg - The police officer accused of raping his own stepdaughter when she was six years old was to find out on Thursday whether he was guilty of the numerous rape and indecent assault charges against him.
The 41-year-old Durban officer is on trial at the High Court sitting in Palm Ridge for allegedly molesting and raping then six-year-old Gabriella* in the early 2000s, both in Joburg and KwaZulu-Natal.
Now 17, Gabriella testified earlier this month that when she was in Grade 1, he had forced her to touch and kiss his genitals on many occasions, and he eventually raped her while her mother was away in hospital.
However, she reported the incidents to her mother only four years later, in 2009, saying she was too afraid of her aggressive stepfather’s reaction towards her mother and herself to talk.
On Wednesday, the court heard closing arguments from both sides, with State prosecutor Jacob Molwantwa claiming the accused had “barely denied” the allegations against him. He accused the officer of responding to only one of the incidents, an indecent assault where he was caught by his wife with his penis exposed to the child. The man had claimed in his testimony that he was actually on his way to urinate in the bathroom across the hall from the girl’s bedroom, and had taken a wrong turn because he was drunk.
However, Molwantwa argued that it had been “convenient” that the man had been sober enough to drive home from the party they had been attending, park the car and take the child to bed, and only then lost his sense of direction.
Molwantwa said Dr Vajjnah Mahomed, who examined Gabriella in 2009 when she reported the alleged rape, had determined that damage to her vagina was a clear indication that she had been abused.
However, the man’s lawyer, JD Pretorius, argued that the defence’s own gynaecologist, Dr Modise Keikelame, had examined Mahomed’s J88 medical report and determined there was no real evidence of abuse. Pretorius argued that the damage done could have been sustained either by tampons or the then 11-year-old’s “experimenting”.
Pretorius argued that the progressively deteriorating relationship between the accused, the complainant and her mother after the parents had decided to divorce could have been the reason why the allegations against his client had been fabricated.
He also insisted that Gabriella’s credibility should be greatly scrutinised by the court, and the probabilities that the allegations were false lay heavily in the defence’s favour.
He also said it was odd that Molwantwa had accused his client of barely denying the allegations, as he had been steadfast in stating they had never happened.
Judge Louis Vorster was expected to deliver his judgment on Thursday morning.
* Not her real name
The Star