Journalists and spectators were banned from soccer ace Benedict Vilakazi’s rape trial on Friday because his alleged victim, a 15-year-old girl, testified in camera.
The girl, who is eight months pregnant, looked demure in a black and white dress and white cardigan before her cross-examination by Vilakazi’s new lawyer, Ike Motloung, in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court.
Vilakazi, who plays for Orlando Pirates, admitted on Thursday to having had consensual sex with the girl but said he thought at the time she was 17 years old.
At the start of Thursday’s proceeding, Vilakazi fired his legal representative, Stanley Fanaroff, and replaced him with Motloung.
His new lawyer addressed the court after the case resumed and revised his client’s plea to that of not guilty.
This follows the court entering a not-guilty plea on Vilakazi’s behalf after he refused entering into a plea himself.
Vilakazi is accused of raping the girl at her aunt’s house in Rosettenville in January. — Sapa