After admitting having had sex with a 15-year-old girl he is accused of raping, soccer star Benedict Vilakazi told her uncle he was ”sorry” and he ”knew it was wrong”, the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court heard on Tuesday.
The girl’s uncle told the packed court he and the Orlando Pirates player were ”very good friends” and that Vilakazi would visit him and his wife at their home in Rosettenville, Johannesburg. The couple were at that time — January this year — the girl’s legal guardians.
The uncle said his niece and Vilakazi did not appear to have a relationship.
”They didn’t really have a relationship. If he comes in, he will just greet her. There was no occasion when both of them would be sitting and talking,” he said.
While being questioned by prosecutor Carina Coetzee, the girl’s uncle said he had never discussed his niece’s age with Vilakazi until the incident had happened.
Recalling the events of January 27, the uncle said Vilakazi — nicknamed ”Tso” — had come to their house with his wife.
”I was sitting at my neighbour’s house and his [Vilakazi’s] wife called my wife over. I didn’t know what the discussion was about, but my wife was crying.”
He then went to where the two women were sitting in a car.
”She told me ‘Tso says he slept with [the girl].”’
The uncle said he did not know what to say. His wife addressed Vilakazi, asking him how he could do something like that, as the girl was only 15.
”Tso looked very depressed. He looked at her and said, ‘I know and I am sorry.”’
While the witness gave his testimony, the diminutive Vilakazi peered over the dock with his hands folded in his lap.
Vilakazi has pleaded not guilty to rape. He maintains the sex was consensual and he thought the girl was 17.
The alleged victim — who is eight months pregnant, allegedly by Vilakazi — had been to consult her gynaecologist on Tuesday morning, because of the advanced stage of her pregnancy.
Her cross-examination was expected to continue in camera later in the day.
If she was not available, defence lawyer Ike Motloung would cross-examine the uncle. — Sapa