'Intimate love affair ' still on
2003-07-09 21:52
Pretoria - A female major loved a married corporal so much that she could not stop herself from getting into an adulterous affair with him in Kinshasa.
Ria Vivier, 48, told the Thaba Tshwane military court on Wednesday that she and corporal Niel Sanna abstained from having sex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) while they were stationed there as part of the South African contingent.
They are still involved in an intimate love affair.
Vivier said she phoned Sanna's wife three or four times from the DRC to find out how she and the children were. "I respected his marriage, wife and children. Our relationship never affected his marriage," she claimed.
Vivier and Sanna are facing 13 charges, including indecent behaviour and assault. They denied guilt earlier.
Vivier claimed the case arose because of a smear-campaign by army personnel who did not want to accept their relationship. She alleged that she had been victimised by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Hallatt, second-in-command of the contingent, because she rejected his advances.
She claimed that Hallatt suggestively touched Sanna and three other men. Sanna apparently filed a complaint against Hallatt after he touched him, but nothing came of his complaint.
Vivier also denied having had sex with a married sergeant, Eddie van Meyeren, and claimed they were only friends.
"Maybe he is making these allegations because of sour grapes after I became involved with Sanna."
Major Elke Pakendorf, prosecutor, accused Vivier of lying. "I would also lie if I simultaneously had extra-marital affairs with two men", Pakendorf said.