”Teddy Bear” rapist Malcolm Egglestone who raped a teenage girl and kidnapped and indecently assaulted others should be jailed for a long time, the Cape Town Regional Court heard on Tuesdsay.
Egglestone (39) was convicted of rape, five indecent assault charges, one of kidnapping and one of common assault. He was dubbed the ”teddy bear molester”, because he hired many of his victims casually to sell teddy bears in restaurants between 1997 and 1998. Then he would lure them into the sex industry.
Cape Town Regional Court prosecutor Bronwyn Hendry on Tuesday called for long terms prison sentences on each of the eight counts. Egglestone has to the very end protested innocence.
On Tuesday Egglestone insisted on addressing the court himself and told of his involvement in the sex industry. He said in him the court was dealing with ”an industry that no one in court had ever experienced”. When he said: ”I wish to educate this court.” Magistrate Jan van Zyl replied: ”I don’t think it’s necessary for you to educate me — I’m not prepared to listen to you any longer.”
Egglestone wept bitterly as he told the court of his ambition to become an advocate. According to a probation report handed to the court, Egglestone was ”lured” to a concern called Below the Line Advertising while working in newspaper advertising.
He was also in the restaurant trade, before ending up at Hollywood and Exotic, an escort agency catering for both ”straight and gay” clientele.
Egglestone’s defence counsel Laurie Wilken suggested a prison sentence involving early release into correctional supervision under house arrest. He said conditions in prison were appalling, and anyone who treated animals the way Egglestone and other awaiting trial prisoners were treated would be punished in terms of the Animal Protection Act.
He said Egglestone was infested with lice, and his four and a half years in custody awaiting trial were equivalent to nine years in jail.
Hendry countered that the offences were particularly heinous, justifying long terms jail for each of the eight counts. She said: ”The accused indecently assaulted one victim, got away with it and then went on to the next one.”
Instead of remorse, he was still protesting innocence and had been very arrogant. She said the rape victim had suffered persistent nightmares and mental disorders.
She said Egglestone had carefully selected his victims, and after establishing a position of trust with them had manipulated and exploited them. Egglestone is to be sentenced on Wednesday. – Sapa