Contradictory testimonies and a lack of evidence have led to former Gauteng housing MEC Dan Mofokeng walking out of the Domestic Violence Court in Pretoria a free man on Thursday.
Clearly overjoyed at the ruling, Mofokeng’s girlfriend, whose name is not known to the media, hugged him as he left the courtroom and said: “Now we can start our life together.”
A group of women from the Tshwane Women’s Forum and the ANC Women’s League protested outside court. “Stop hurting women,” they chanted.
Mofokeng initially faced six charges, including one of malicious damage to property and assault. But four of the six charges were dropped earlier this month, and he was tried on charges of assault and contravening a court order.
It was alleged that he assaulted his estranged wife, Jacquie Mofokeng, ANC deputy chief whip in the Gauteng legislature, at their Irene home in February last year. Jacquie had a protection order against him.
Divorce proceedings are under way.
Earlier, Mofokeng’s daughter, Thato, and the couple’s domestic worker, Evelyn Mosia, took the stand.
Mosia testified that Mofokeng stormed into the couple’s house on February 24 last year and a struggle ensued between him and Jacquie.
During the struggle, Jacquie allegedly fell to the floor and Mofokeng kicked her twice and slapped her across the face, Mosia said.
Mofokeng’s version was that he simply unlocked the passage door and applied pressure to it. When it swung open, he found Jacquie lying on her back on the floor.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Thando Humana said it was not possible for two witnesses to give exactly the same statements.
“People see and experience situations differently,” he said.
On Wednesday, Mofokeng told the court that Mosia had been influenced by Jacquie as she had been a loyal employee of the family for years.
Humana argued it would have been impossible for Jacquie to influence Mosia as Mosia had called the couple’s daughter, Thato, immediately after the incident.
“If there was no assault, why did the J88 (medical report) indicate otherwise?” he concluded.
Mofokeng’s defence counsel, Lehlohonolo Adonis, hit back, saying it was a pity that the State only argued the motives of the witnesses and overlooked the evidence before court.
He argued that Mofokeng was not in contravention of the protection order as he had given Jacquie more than 45 minutes’ notice of his intended arrival. Mofokeng expected no one to be home as Jacquie had responded to his SMS saying she was not home.
“My client expected no one to be home,” Adonis said.
“When he applied pressure to open a door which he thought was blocked, he did not intend to find Jacquie behind it.”
Adonis said the medical report had no evidence to support Jacquie’s claims of the injuries caused by the violence.
“The (medical report) stated that she experienced tenderness of the back and shoulders and that could have been caused by stress,” he said.
Magistrate Clifford Khoza said the onus was on the State to prove the guilt of Mofokeng beyond reasonable doubt.
“Doubts exist about the manner in which the events happened and with the evidence presented to the court, no reasonable court could find the accused guilty,” he said.
Outside court Mofokeng said justice had prevailed. “People should stop using government resources to settle scores,” he said.
Gugu Ndima, media and communications officer of the ANC caucus in the Gauteng legislature, commented on behalf of Jacquie. He said Jacquie could not attend the judgment as she was in Cape Town for the opening of Parliament.
“The office condemns domestic violence. It is seen as a serious offence in society. It is unfortunate that the grounds for acquittal were based on technicalities as opposed to the merits of the case. Jacquie has this office’s full support. We hope justice will prevail.” - Pretoria News