/ 31 January 2008

Alleged rapist has ‘not had an erection since 2001’

An Eastern Cape man accused of three counts of rape and two of attempted rape is to be referred to a doctor specialising in erectile dysfunction.

Mcebesi Noji (28) of Nkululeko, Barkly East, has pleaded not guilty to the five charges before judge Elna Revelas, and claimed he ”was sexually dysfunctional and had not had an erection since 2001”.

The medical referral was in accordance with an agreement reached in the Grahamstown High Court on Thursday by Noji’s lawyer, Craig Renaud.

Renaud told the court he had requested a letter from the prison doctor, and arrangements had been made for Noji to see a urologist at Port Elizabeth’s Livingstone Hospital at 9am on Friday.

However, state advocate Nickie Turner recalled the Barkly East doctor, who conducted the medical examinations on the rape and sexual assault victims, and who was also consulted by Noji about his sexual problem in 2000.

Two of the alleged rapes happened on June 3 and 17 2006, and one rape and two attempted rapes on October 7, the same year. The victim’s ages ranged from 54 to 65. – Sapa