/ 29 November 2007

Japie Mulder pleads guilty to indecent assault

Former Springbok centre Japie Mulder has admitted that over an extended period he indecently assaulted a young girl and tried to rape her, Beeld reported on Thursday. The crimes were reported to Alberton police in May 2005. The girl is in grade 12 this year.

Mulder was fined R120 000 or three years in prison in terms of a plea bargain in which he pleaded guilty to charges of indecent assault and soliciting a minor.

Mulder (37) reached the plea agreement with the prosecutor in the Germiston Regional Court in a case that has been dragging on since April.

He was charged with eight counts of indecent assault and one of attempted rape, Beeld said.

Mulder did not want to comment.

”I just want to wait until things settle; this is a difficult matter,” he said.

Mulder was outside centre in the 1995 Springbok team that took the honours in the Rugby World Cup in South Africa. — Sapa