Khumalo: Attack left me scared
2003-03-07 21:45
Johannesburg - A schoolgirl told the Johannesburg High Court on Friday how her rape ordeal, allegedly at the hands of chef Fanwell Khumalo, had left her too scared to walk alone.
The girl identified Khumalo in court on Friday as the man who attacked on January 28, 2001, while she was on her way to church.
"I do not go to church anymore, I am too scared to walk alone," she testified before Judge Max Labe and two assessors.
Khumalo pleaded not guilty to all 132 charges including 42 of rape when his trial started three weeks ago. He claims he is the victim of mistaken identity.
The girl's family had attended church together that day. When the church service finished at 14:00, her mother returned home and the girl stopped at the house of a friend.
It was on the way from that house to her home that she was stopped by the man she identified as Khumalo, who allegedly told her: "I will shoot you, I will blow out your brains".
He forced her to accompany him and then he raped her, causing severe injuries to her vagina in the process.
She was in considerable pain when she eventually arrived home and she was taken to a clinic.
The victim's mother testified that she was so upset at what had happened to her daughter that it had aggravate her existing hypertension.
"I just want to be here when he is sentenced," the mother told the court.
From next Tuesday, prosecutor Advocate Marile Van Heerden, will lead the evidence of other victims who will testify to how they were kidnapped and raped.
This testimony will be heard via closed circuit television and not in open court where other children have testified since the beginning of the trial.
Khumalo, who unsuccessfully applied for bail last year, remains in custody.
- SAPA