Agony aunt takes the stand
2006-04-18 10:38
Johannesburg - You magazine's agony aunt, Louise Olivier, went into the witness box at former deputy president Jacob Zuma's Johannesburg High Court rape trial on Tuesday.
Olivier was seen advising Zuma's advocate, Kemp J Kemp, during the earlier cross-examination of trauma specialist Merle Friedman.
Friedman had told the court earlier in the trial that the complainant's "freezing" during the alleged rape was a normal response to rape.
Her delay in reporting the case could be due to a dissociative disorder associated with people who have experienced traumas such as rape in the past.
The court has heard testimony about a rape at the age of five, and two when the complainant was a teenager.
Zuma's defence has produced witnesses who have said that the latter two events were recorded as "sex with a child but not rape".
Olivier, who sports a shock of blond hair, settled herself into the witness box and was expected to start testifying after the court started morning proceedings later than usual.
Zuma is accused of raping a 31-year-old HIV-positive family friend at his home in Johannesburg on November 2 last year.
He claims they had consensual sex.
The trial continues.
- SAPA