AfriForum’s private prosecution unit today proceeded with its prosecution of an alleged rapist in the Regional Court in Somerset East.
AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, headed by Adv. Gerrie Nel, represents Celeste Gouws, the victim, that was raped in her own home in 2017 after she was presumably drugged. This follows after the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Eastern Cape refused to institute action against the suspect, Isaac Andile Memese, in spite of overwhelming evidence against him.
AfriForum is of the opinion that the handling of the case to date indicates that there has been political interference in the case, seeing that Memese and his family have political ties. This case has already been postponed for trial three times in the past due to delays by Memese’s legal team. Memese appeared in the dock today, dressed in his ANC jacket.
His legal team once again attempted to delay the trial by claiming that they have not set eyes on the video evidence. Nel provided evidence that indicated that the visuals have been provided to Memese and his legal team twice. In spite hereof the defence insisted on more time to study the visuals. The case has been postponed to Wednesday 14 July.
“It is evident that the accused and his legal team are trying to deliberately delay the case. This is just another incident where the legal process fails female victims, instead of helping to protect them and this rouses serious concern on the state of the criminal justice system. The victim’s whole life was ruined as a result of this incident and she deserves justice, says Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum’s Manager of Campaigns.