By Fatima Schroeder
An 18-year-old Manenberg woman in Cape Town, who accuses former Hard Livings gang leader Rashied Staggie of ordering three men to rape her, returned to the scene of the alleged crime on Tuesday in a bullet-proof vest.
The woman, who may not be identified, also returned to her home in Manenberg where the court held an inspection in loco.
Staggie, 46, and Randall Bosch, 33, have pleaded not guilty to rape and kidnapping.
Staggie has also pleaded not guilty to the illegal possession of a firearm.
The state alleges that he and Bosch, together with two other men, kidnapped the woman in Manenberg on August 22 last year and took took her to Mitchell's Plain, where Staggie forced her to have sex with them.
She did not know the identities of the other two men.
But Staggie denies the allegations, claiming that he has embraced Christianity, and both accused deny knowing her.
Heavily armed police gathered to prevent Manenberg residents from interfering with Tuesday's inspection.
Other residents, living in nearby flats, pressed their noses against their windows to watch Staggie move through the area while a police helicopter circled above.
The complainant sat in a police Nyala armoured personnel carrier and watched the inspection. She commented through a window every now and then.
She only emerged from the police vehicle to demonstrate the position she was in when allegedly raped.
However, she insisted that police made sure Staggie and Bosch were not nearby at the time.
The woman also requested that the men turn their backs during the demonstration.
Earlier in the day, the Cape High Court, sitting in the Wynberg Sexual Offences Court, heard details of the alleged rape over closed circuit television.
"I was scared and nervous," she said. "I knew what type of person Rashied was. He has the power to do anything, even if he doesn't do it alone. He gives orders to kill, rape and shoot."
She said the men took her to a dark area in Mitchell's Plain and parked the car next to a tree. She said Bosch and the two other men got out and sat on a tree stump to smoke dagga and mandrax while she sat in the passenger seat and Staggie sat behind the steering wheel.
"He said he had lost trust in me and that he thought he could never trust me again," she said. "He told me that I would have to have sex with Randall Bosch and the other three men if I ever wanted him to trust me again."
When she refused, Staggie allegedly took out a gun from the cubby-hole and brushed it against her leg.
"I knew he was going to do something to me," she said. "I thought that was the last of my life."
Staggie then allegedly ordered her to climb over to the back seat and told her to take off her clothes, but she refused.
Later, Bosch approached the car and grabbed at her skirt, but she told him that she could remove the garments herself.
Then all three men allegedly raped her while Staggie watched in the rear-view mirror, the court heard. She said the men did not ejaculate inside her.
The third man who allegedly raped her whispered in her ear that he did not want to do it but that he did not have a choice, she testified.
On the way back home, Staggie warned her that she would be killed if she told anyone about the rape, she said.
The following day, she met a police contact and told of the rape and confessed. Her contacts offered her protection if she laid a charge, she said.
The trial was postponed to Wednesday.