/ 14 September 2001

Staggie on rape charges

Marianne Merten

Cape gang boss Rashied Staggie, who three years ago claimed he had found the Lord and renounced gangsterism, is facing charges of raping and kidnapping a 17-year old girl.

He was released on bail of R10000 by the Mitchells Plain Regional Court on Monday after a week in custody. His co-accused’s bid for bail failed.

Staggie is also on R30000 bail in the trial related to the 1998 theft of dozens of automatic rifles and shotguns, ammunition and other weapons from the public order police base at Faure, on the outskirts of Cape Town.

Die Burger reported that the investigating officer told the court the teenaged girl from Manenberg was abducted on August 22, taken to Mitchells Plain, accused of being a traitor and raped at gunpoint by three men while Staggie watched. However, Staggie testified that on that day he had attended a church service in Manenberg, spent time with his children and later watched TV at home.