Zuma takes the stand
2006-04-03 10:09
Johannesburg - Former president Jacob Zuma took the stand in Johannesburg High Court on Monday morning in his rape trial.
He was expected to start his testimony just after 09:30.
Zuma is alleged to have raped a 31-year-old HIV-positive family friend at his home in Johannesburg on November 2 last year.
He denies rape, saying they had consensual sex.
The State called 11 witnesses to support her complaint, including evidence from a trauma specialist that the woman froze during the alleged attack and entered a dissociative phase related to previous rapes when she was a child and as a teenager.
Last week Zuma's advocate Kemp J Kemp argued that there was not enough evidence at the resting of the State's case to make a finding of mens rea - a guilty mind.
Judge Willem van der Merwe disagreed and the discharge application failed.
- SAPA