Durban - The young woman who accused Durban advocate Mike Govindasamy of raping her in 2010 had appeared “chilled” and “her usual bossy self” after the alleged incident, the Pietermaritzburg High Court heard on Wednesday.
Govindasamy’s son Kshetra testified that the alleged victim, a relative, had also not displayed any sign she had been sexually assaulted, as she claimed.
Govindasamy, a former acting judge, has pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting the complainant in 2007, when she was 15, and to raping her in 2010.
It is alleged the incidents occurred in his bedroom in his Effingham Heights home.
Govindasamy, however, claimed the complainant had laid criminal charges against him because he had threatened to tell her father that she worked as a scantily-clad “tequila girl” at a Cape Town club. He claimed the incidents could not have occurred because both his sons were at home at the time.
Testifying on Wednesday, 35-year-old Kshetra, a geographical analyst, said it was normal for visiting relatives who were sleeping over to spend the night on a mattress on the floor in his parents’ bedroom.
The complainant was sleeping there at the time the alleged rape took place.
“There was nothing unusual about my relative sleeping in my parents’ room,” Kshetra said.
He said that the night before the family had gathered together at his parents home to celebrate his father’s birthday.
The complainant was present and, according to Kshetra, was “latching on” to his father.
“She was being her usual self, and being clingy and latching on to my dad.”
Kshetra said he had been woken by his mother at around 4am the next day. She was on her way to a meditation class.
About 20 minutes later he emerged from his room and walked past his father’s bedroom. The door was open, as it always was, Kshetra said.
He said he saw his father lying on the bed and reading a book. He also had a conversation with his father about the neighbour’s noisy dogs.
At 6.30am Kshetra said he went to the entrance of his father’s room and asked whether he wanted to accompany him to the beach.
Govindasamy told his son he would wait for his wife to return and suggested that Kshetra ask the complainant to join him.
Kshetra said the complain-ant thought it was a “great idea” and the two made their way to the beach.
“In the car on the way to the beach, she was chilled and enjoying the music I was playing. She was also texting on her cellphone a lot. She was her usual bossy self.”
He said his parents later joined them at the beach, upon which his father had told the complainant, who was wearing a bikini, to “cover up”.
The complainant allegedly refused to do so.
It was only later that day when her father came to pick her up that the girl complained of being nauseous and having vomited.
“I was with her the entire morning and saw no signs of this. I was shocked,” Kshetra said.
The trial continues.
Daily News