Tourist rape: DNA test ordered

2002-12-04 18:48

Riot Hlatshwayo & Zenzele Kuhlase

Nelspruit - Four Mpumalanga gangsters accused of abducting and raping a British tourist will undergo compulsory DNA testing this week.

The men may also face additional attempted murder charges if tourist Julie Stevens (29) contracts HIV/Aids as a result of the rape.

The decision to obtain conclusive forensic evidence forms part of the State's hardline prosecution strategy that has already seen the men charged with rape, murder, abduction, armed robbery, attempted murder, attempted armed robbery, indecent assault and the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Only three of the four men appeared briefly in the Nelspruit sexual offences court on Tuesday, because the fourth suspect, Eric Msibi (21), is still under police guard in hospital after being shot and injured during his arrest.

Msibi will appear in court when he is strong enough.

His co-accused Sipho Mbokane (29), Willie Ngwenya (20) and Zimbabwean national Michael Dube (20) were not asked to plead on Tuesday on 11 charges and were remanded in custody pending their next court appearance on January 17.

Msibi was shot while allegedly trying to evade arrest in Masoyi near White River and is being treated for a broken hip.

Ngwenya was also shot during the arrest and now has to use a catheter as he was shot in the buttocks and the bullet pierced his bladder.

The gang's state-appointed lawyer, Andre Britz, told the court that his clients had decided against applying for bail after Mbokane allegedly led police to the rape scene, as well as to the automatic teller machines where the victims' bank cards were used to withdraw money, and also pointed out where Msibi and Ngwenya lived.

Dube and Mbokane were arrested a day after Stevens and her 25-year-old South African friend Tinus Opperman were hijacked while sightseeing at the Long Tom Pass between Sabie and Lydenburg.

The pair were driven to various shebeens around the province's southern Lowveld and shown off as "white flesh".

The ordeal ended 14 hours and 220km later when the tourists' van overturned along the Barberton/Badplaas road in the early hours of November 17.

An unsuspecting motorist, Domingo Albert Chamber (37) of Mozambique stopped to help and was fatally shot in the head.

Police arrested Dube and Mbokane near the scene that day while Msibi and Ngwenya were arrested at Masoyi two days later.

Wits Law Clinic professor, Prof Stephen Tuson, told African Eye News Service that if Stevens discovered she was HIV positive after the rape, the prosecution would be entitled to argue she was infected intentionally and bring additional attempted murder charges.

Murder charges could only be opened if she died of the disease, he added.

Police are meanwhile considering bringing criminal charges against the shebeen patrons and a sister to one of the accused who kept silent while they paraded the woman before them. - African Eye News Service

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