Woman hurt in 'racist' attack

2009-07-10 09:29

Arisja Jacobs

Evander - A man, 25, appeared in the local magistrate's court on Thursday in connection with what appears to be a racist assault, merely four years after he was found guilty of a similar type of assault.

Rudi Calitz was arrested after a black woman from Brendan was assaulted on June 20.

According to Abie Khoabane of the provincial police, the woman told police that the men had called her racist names and during the assault said, "Black people must leave Brendan".

Khoabane said the previous attack (in 2002) in which Calitz was involved, was also an "attack out of the blue on an unknown black person".
The victim of the 2002 incident, Gabriel Jara, 37, died after the assault.

Could go to jail

Calitz and his co-accused in the 2002 incident, Jaco Kraft and Gert Opperman, had escaped murder charges because of testimony that Jara had hit his head on a rock, and that is what led to his death.

In 2005 Calitz was found guilty of assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm.

He was given a suspended sentence of five years, which means if he's found guilty of a similar transgression within those five years, he could go to prison for three years. The suspended sentence will only expire in 2010.

Kraft and Opperman were found guilty of culpable homicide, but only Kraft spent time in prison. Calitz, his brother Shaun, 20, Francois Putter, 20, and two underage suspects appeared briefly in court on Thursday in connection with the assault on Vuyokazi Mtsabe. The two underage suspects are brothers aged 17 and 15 respectively.

The assault on Mtsabe was apparently preceded by a bar fight in Brendan Village. The neighbourhood watch reportedly came across the young men as they were kicking and beating the woman. Mtsabe was discharged from hospital the next day.

She sustained injuries to her face, head and back.

The Calitz brothers and Putter were released on bail of R1 000 each.

The underage suspects were released into their mother's custody. The case was postponed until July 23.

- Beeld