PETER DICKSON, Grahamstown | Friday 1.15pm.
SUPPORTERS sang and danced in Grahamstown’s historic High Street on Friday after the High Court set aside the conviction of cricket player Makhaya Ntini, who faced six years in jail for raping a domestic worker last December.
In the appeal judgement, that has sent shockwaves through legal and human rights circles in the Eastern Cape, the Grahamstown High Court gave the 22 year-old Border pace bowler the benefit of the doubt and set aside his conviction and prison sentence.
Ntini, suspended from provincial and international cricket pending the outcome of his appeal but who stirred further outrage after controversially playing several Border league fixtures earlier this month, was convicted by the East London regional court in May of raping a Gonubie domestic worker at the city’s Buffalo Park cricket ground on December 2 last year.
Ntini, who continued to receive his United Cricket Board of South Africa salary after the court handed down a six-year sentence, is now eligible again for provincial and international selection.
Border Cricket Board chief executive Reunert Bauser said after this morning’s judgement, attended by Ntini’s legal counsel, several board officials and supporters, that Ntini, who was not in court today, will “return to his career”.
United Cricket Board of South Africa managing director Ali Bacher said in a statement the UCB “hopes that [Ntini] can retain the position that he previously held in international cricket.” Ntini was not immediately available for comment.
Handing down judgement on behalf of Judge Chris Jansen, Judge John Whitehead said Ntini’s guilt had not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt by the State and that its case contained “too many deficiencies”.