Johannesburg - Convicted model agency boss Dawie de Villiers will be able to enjoy his freedom a little longer after his sentencing was delayed yet again in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday.
The founder of Modelling South Africa (Pty) was found guilty of rape, sexual assault, sexual grooming, fraud, exposure of pornography to children and access to child pornography in February.
State prosecutor Arveena Persad argued that de Villiers was a convicted felon and it was not correct that a convicted rapist was roaming the streets, despite being found guilty of such a serious crime. The minimum prescribed sentence for rape is life imprisonment.
"They know what their client has been convicted of, we have to move forward, how long are we going to postpone the matter?" Persad asked.
Earlier Persad told the court that the transcriber said that the transcripts of the arguments had been received but the state's case and de Villiers's testimony were still outstanding.
Persad said she was not given a clear reason as to why the outstanding parts of the record were still not available. She reminded the court that an order was made that the transcript practitioner would be required to testify and tell the court why it wasn't done by the set date.
Advocate Riaan Greyling for de Villiers opposed his client's bail being revoked and said it would not be fair for him to be punished for running out of funds.
"It would be unfair and not in the interest of justice," he said.
Later the transcript practitioner said that a call was lodged by her colleague who said that there was a backlog and he said the only thing he could do would be to constantly call the company that was assisting with the transcription.
Judge Cassim Moosa made an order that the transcript had to be present at the next appearance and that the transcript practitioner would be required to testify again and explain to the court why the outstanding documents had not been obtained on time.
Standing in the dock in a black suit, de Villiers was told by Judge Moosa that his bail was extended and the same conditions applied.
The matter was postponed to July 24.