South African high jumper Jacques Freitag and his training partner, Zeegfriedt Veenemans, will have to attend a diversion programme before charges of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm can be withdrawn against them.
The two men appeared in the Hatfield Community Court in Pretoria on Tuesday.
It is alleged that they kicked and hit Raymond Williams (17) in January last year in what appeared to be a road-rage incident. The two high jumpers allegedly assaulted Williams and broke his nose.
The 23-year-old Freitag was arrested soon thereafter while Veenemans (22) was arrested in February that year.
Both were released on warning.
During a court appearance in January this year, the accused and the complainants spent a lot of time behind closed doors and when they finally appeared in court, the case was postponed for a diversion programme.
This means that a complainant will not continue with the criminal case and that the accused must admit their guilt, be assessed by a probation officer and attend the programme.
If the programme is completed successfully, charges will be withdrawn by the court and the accused will not have a criminal record.
On Tuesday magistrate Dreyer van der Merwe postponed the case to June 6 so that Freitag and Veenemans could attend such a programme.
He asked the two young men if they were students. When they said no this, he said that if they were students, he would have to ask them if they were willing to learn, as students ”usually don’t like learning”.
”You must learn from this programme. As you are not students, I assume you are eager to learn. You have to be able to say what you have learnt and if you have found it valuable,” he concluded. — Sapa