The elderly victims of an alleged rapist recounted their ordeals in the Grahamstown High Court on Wednesday.
”He grabbed me and pushed me into the bedroom and hit me with his fists, and with a bottle of brandy in his left hand,” one of the women told the court. ”I struggled but because of my age, I got tired. Then he raped me.”
She said this happened on the night of October 7 after she returned home from a funeral.
Mcebisi Noji (28), of Nkululeko, Barkly East, has been charged with three counts of rape, and two of attempted rape. He also faces four charges of housebreaking in connection with the rapes and attempted rapes.
The state alleges that the rapes happened on June 3 and 17 as well as October 7 2006, when three women were allegedly sexually assaulted.
According to the indictment, Noji had been arrested for the first two alleged assaults, and twice released on bail.
Appearing before Judge Elna Revelas, Noji has pleaded not guilty. He is now in custody at the Grahamstown Prison for the duration of the trial.
The tall, thin Noji listened intently as the daughter of one of the elderly women whom he allegedly raped on October 7 told the court that she was sitting with her mother on Saturday afternoon at about 4pm when it began to rain.
”My mother lives almost next door to me and she returned to the house because the roof was leaking. A few minutes later I heard her screaming inside her house.
”I heard my mother shouting to please come and help her. I ran across to the house and shouted to her and said, ‘What is happening?”’
The witness, who cannot be named, said she saw a man run out of the house with a black woollen hat pulled down over his face.
She told the court she immediately went to her mother and saw that she had blood on her chest and was bleeding from the mouth, and there was blood on her mother’s duvet.
”My mother was crying and trembling and appeared to be physically hurt. She told me what had happened and that this person had come into the house and raped her. She told me that during the struggle she had bitten him on the lip.”
The trial continues. — Sapa