Pretoria - Former tennis star and convicted rapist Bob Hewitt has not given up on fighting his conviction, despite losing a High Court bid for leave to appeal on Friday.
Hewitt’s attorney Johann Engelbrecht told African News Agency that his client would now explore other avenues so that he could appeal the conviction on charges of rape and sexual assault.
“We are going to petition the SCA (Supreme Court of Appeal) for permission to appeal the conviction,” Engelbrecht said.
He made the remarks after the High Court in Pretoria on Friday refused Hewitt’s application for leave to appeal against the conviction.
Judge Bert Bam, however, granted Hewitt leave to appeal his six-year sentence. The judge also extended the former world champion’s bail.
In May, Hewitt was sentenced to an effective six years in prison and ordered to pay R100,000 in fines to help fund campaigns against abuse towards women and children.
He had been found guilty of two counts of rape and one of sexual assault by the South Gauteng High Court sitting in Palm Ridge in March.
The Australian-born Hewitt was on trial for raping two of his former students, Theresa “Twiggy” Tolken and Suellen Sheehan in the 1980s, and the sexual assault of a third woman, who may not be named, in the 1990s.
ANA