Rape victims ID ex-sailor

2008-08-26 19:23

Cape Town - Two victims of alleged serial rapist Tsediso Letsoenya on Tuesday pointed him out in the Cape High Court as the man who had raped them at gunpoint four years ago.

Letsoenya, who was in the dock, looked at them defiantly as they pointed at him. On two occasions he beckoned his defence counsel Nehemia Ballem to come close to whisper in his ear.

Letsoenya, in his thirties, was a leading seaman in the Navy at the time of his arrest.

He has pleaded not guilty before Judge Abe Motala and assessors Bob Martin and E Keeton to 104 charges which include 39 of rape and 33 of indecent assault. The victims may not be identified by order of the court.

At Tuesday's proceedings, prosecutor Heather Meyer alleged that Letsoenya accosted two women and their male companions as they walked in the street in New Crossroads on a night in June 2004.

One of the women told the court that Letsoenya forced the other woman to have sex with their male friend, while Letsoenya raped the first woman.

'Let me show you how'

She said Letsoenya ran up to them from behind before pointing a gun at them.

After allegedly raping the first woman Letsoenya pulled the man off the second woman and said to him: "Let me show you how to do it".

Letsoenya then raped the second woman, the first alleged.

According to the testimony of previous victims, Letsoenya's modus operandi was to accost male and female couples, force them at gunpoint to have sex, and then force himself on the woman.

In one instance, he allegedly accosted a woman on her own and waited until a man passed by. He stopped the man, forced him at gunpoint to have sex with the woman, and then had sex with her himself.

- SAPA