A 34-year-old man raped two young girls and bought them chicken and Coke afterwards, the Grahamstown High Court heard on Tuesday.
The man has pleaded not guilty to the rape and indecent assault of two girls — one who called him an uncle — near the Victoria Park Tennis Club in Port Elizabeth in January. He said he had consensual sex with the 12-year-old girl.
The state’s indictment alleges that he also sodomised the girl.
Before the state led the girls’ evidence, isiXhosa-speaking clinical psychologist Karen Andrews told the court it would be necessary for them both to be allowed to give their evidence through an intermediary, to avoid mental stress and suffering, and that the accused be out of their sight.
The 10-year-old girl told the court she knew the accused as he was an uncle. Speaking softly, she said she had been walking with her friend on the way to visit her friend’s father, when they met her uncle who told them to accompany him.
He drew money from the bank, then took the girls to a park near the tennis club and slapped her friend in the face. He made them take off their clothes and sit next to a tree.
The girl then described the rapes and indecent assaults in detail, with the use of dolls. She said: ”It was very painful and I was crying. We both cried. Afterwards, [the man] took us to a petrol station and brought us some pieces of chicken and two litres of Coke, which we ate and drank.”
The 12-year-old girl then testified and virtually corroborated, almost word for word, the evidence of her friend. She said that when the man had withdrawn cash from the ATM, he gave them each R20.
The trial continues. — Sapa