The Benedict Vilakazi rape case on Wednesday saw his 15-year-old accuser’s innocence brought into question as it was shown she may have deceived her family and lied about her age.
Wrapping up cross-examination of the girl’s uncle in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, defence counsel Ike Motloung asked him whether he would be surprised if it were proved through telephone records — not yet produced — that the girl had been in contact with Vilakazi three weeks before the alleged rape.
”Yes, it would surprise me,” he responded.
Motloung said the couple, the girl’s guardians at the time, had been ”led up the garden path to believe she was a virgin” when she was not.
The girl’s 29-year-old aunt gave evidence corroborating her husband’s testimony that no evidence of any type of relationship existed between her niece and Vilakazi.
They both denied that the girl — now eight months pregnant, allegedly with Vilakazi’s child — was mature for her age.
The girl testified in camera that she in fact disliked Vilakazi, and her aunt and uncle said she was not a follower of soccer and did not worship him as a hero. She did not get excited if he came to visit.
The alleged rape, which took place on January 27, was only reported on February 12, and then only because Vilakazi’s wife found out about it by sending SMSs to the girl, pretending to be Vilakazi.
After a confrontation with the aunt and uncle — when Vilakazi apparently apologised and said he ”knows” the girl was 15 — the Vilakazis and the couple went back to the soccer star’s home in Naturena. The girl and a friend had been locked in a bedroom after being lured there earlier by Vilakazi’s wife.
Sex was ‘consensual’
Vilakazi last week pleaded not guilty to the rape charge, saying the sex was consensual and the girl had told him she was 17.
”I found [the girl] and asked her why she slept with him. She said she didn’t. I slapped her and asked her again and she again denied it,” the aunt said.
She said it was only once they got into a car to go to report a statutory rape to the police that the girl said Vilakazi had taken her into the bathroom and ”forced her”.
Motloung tried to paint a picture of a girl who had been found out by her aunt — and then tried to make herself appear innocent.
”Isn’t that where the rape comes in?” Motloung asked the aunt. ”What could the poor girl say?”
”She would tell the truth,” the aunt retorted, ”which she did when we got into the car.”
The girl was apparently visited by Vilakazi on a weekend when her aunt and uncle were away and left her in the care of grandmother.
”He definitely knew we were not there that weekend,” the uncle said. Vilakazi would also know that on the day of the alleged rape, the uncle was at work.
Motloung said his client will testify the girl had been a nuisance and ”was after him”.
”The accused will say that you [the uncle] said you could see it yourself and told him: ‘It’s up to you. Don’t get me involved.”’
The uncle said: ”It will be sad that he will fabricate something like this.”
The court was overflowing with spectators and saw some excitement when magistrate Naomi Manaka reprimanded journalists and urged them to report responsibly after a daily newspaper identified the girl’s uncle.
Prosecutor Carina Coetzee said the newspaper will be prosecuted for contempt of court, as the girl’s family’s identities are to remain secret in order to protect her.
Manaka also had the uncle jailed for a short while after his cellphone rang in the courtroom.
The case has been postponed to November 24. — Sapa