Johannesburg - The anti-abuse organisation that helped secure the rape conviction against former tennis champion Bob Hewitt believes the allegations that some victims may have colluded is a last-ditch attempt by his defence to “keep him out of prison”.
On Tuesday, the SABC reported that three of the women who accused Hewitt of raping and sexually assaulting them may have colluded, citing documents showing they had communicated before the trial.
Hewitt was convicted of two counts of rape and one of sexual assault for allegedly raping two of his former tennis students in the 1980s, while molesting another in the 1990s.
The 75-year-old was sentenced to six years in prison but has been granted an extension of his bail pending his appeal.
Women and Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA) responded to the SABC’s report on Tuesday.
“The only tactic left for Hewitt’s defence lawyers is to attack and discredit the victims – again,” said spokeswoman Germaine Vogel.
“After their many efforts to undermine these women in court, they now resort to using the media to shame them even more. Hewitt has shown no remorse for his deeds and now clearly displays a total lack of any consideration for the victims.
“Let us not forget that when Heather Conner (in the US) disclosed her abuse at the hands of Hewitt, the other victims, realising they were not the only ones, naturally made contact with one another and shared experiences, but that is not collusion – at no point was there a secret strategy discussed or planned for a trial.
“What does it say about our society when we blame and shame the victims, instead of the offender who was found guilty in a court of law? Money would be better spent hacking into abusers’ private emails and social media networks rather than those belonging to victims!”.
The SABC’s report also revealed correspondence between one of the complainants and the prosecutor in the case, Carina Coetzee, which indicated that the lawyer threatened to remove the complainant from the case if she continued to speak to the media.
Said Vogel: “The SABC article is disappointingly irresponsible. We are all well aware of correspondence between Ms (Suellen) Sheehan and the prosecutor – and it is definitely not unusual. The reporter should have provided context.”
WMACA director Miranda Friedmann also weighed in on the matter.
“Surely this man (Hewitt) needs to accept the fact that he is a child abuser. He is not in the celebrity spotlight anymore. It’s time the defence stopped these despicable tactics, which are certainly of great financial benefit to themselves.”
Hewitt’s lawyer, Johann Engelbrecht, has emphatically denied leaking the documents.
When questioned about WMACA’s implication that the defence had been responsible for leaking the emails, he said: “Shut up. That’s rubbish. They (the WMACA) must be careful. I have no issue with suing them for defamation of character.”
Meanwhile, the National Prosecuting Authority is investigating how private correspondence between the prosecutor and the complainants was leaked to the media.
Spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said NPA stood behind Coetzee, saying her conduct with the complainants was ethical.
He said a prosecutor’s job was to inform witnesses of the court’s processes and that telling witnesses not to speak to the media or other witnesses about the merits of the case was normal procedure.
Mfaku said the NPA would investigate how Coetzee’s private emails were accessed and given to the SABC.
The Star