The policy prohibits consensual sexual intimacy in court buildings and discourages romantic relationships between members of the judiciary.
The sentencing of the South Coast serial rapist who kidnapped 10 people at gunpoint, most of them teenagers, took them to secluded spots and raped them was postponed in the Scottburgh regional court because there was no water in the court building.
Bhekisisa Mhlungu, who was convicted of all charges after he pleaded guilty to nine counts of rape, seven counts of kidnapping, a count of attempting to attempt a sexual offence, robbery, and discharging a firearm earlier this month appeared briefly in court before magistrate Asheena Bacharam on Tuesday morning. Members of his family, mostly women, packed the benches in the public gallery.
State prosecutor Active Njokazi asked the court to consider postponing Mhlungu’s sentencing because of the water shortage He said victim statements had already been submitted to the court for consideration in sentencing. Defence attorney Leslie Pillay Pillay did not oppose the request to postpone the matter.
When handing down judgment last week, Bacharam had said the matter had to be finalised as soon as possible because it had been on the court roll since 5 May 2022.
But on Tuesday she agreed the water situation in the building was untenable for the case to continue.
“The court is faced with a situation beyond control of all parties in the building. This is the third day there has been no water. It is a situation we cannot control but apparently the situation in the ‘girls’ [toilets] is very bad with regard to hygiene,” Bacharam said.
The matter was postponed to 25 March.
Mhlungu drove around the streets of small towns and either offered lifts or forced his young victims aged 11 to 17, as well as a 22-year-old woman, into his vehicle at gunpoint in broad daylight, before driving them to a secluded area such as a forest or a bridge where he raped them.
Pillay last week read out Mhlungu’s guilty pleas related to the crimes against his victims, whose names have been withheld to protect their identity, in which he accepted that the police had gathered DNA evidence linking him to the rapes. The crimes took place from April 2019 to March 2022.