Publications
Partners
Bloemfontein – The case against alleged genital mutilator Peter Frederiksen was postponed in the Free State High Court in Bloemfontein on Friday.
Prosecutor Amanda Bester asked the court to postpone the matter to November 11 to get confirmation on who would represent Frederiksen during his trial.
Bester said she had received an email from his lawyer, Howard Woolf, saying they needed "two weeks to get their house in order".
"We don’t know who is going to appear for the accused," she said.
She said the State's investigation was complete and the trial was expected to take eight weeks.
Frederiksen, 64, told the court his family would help him pay his legal fees. He said he didn't know why his lawyer was absent because he had already paid him R500 000.
"I will have to meet with him on Tuesday and if nothing happens then I will find a new local lawyer. It is difficult for me to be in custody for over a year. I have not seen my children or spoken to them," he said.
"My wife has passed away and I was charged with conspiracy to murder her, but I was not responsible for her murder."
He faces 59 charges, including assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, possession of unregistered medicine and unlicensed firearms, distribution and possession of child pornography, conspiracy to murder, and bigamy.
He was arrested on September 17, 2015, after 21 clitorises were found in the freezer of his home.
Suspect in wife's murder
He is also being investigated for the murder of his wife, 28-year-old Anna Matseliso Molise. She was shot four times outside her house in Maseru, Lesotho, on October 20, 2015.
She would have been a key State witness in the case against her husband, the Hawks said at the time.
During previous court appearances, the State said Frederiksen allegedly hired wheelchair-bound Motlatsi Moqeti, 31, to have Molise killed. He allegedly had contacts in the criminal underworld.
Frederiksen told the court previously that he had learnt of his wife's death through the media. The State told the court that a witness and phone calls linked Moqeti to the killing.
However, on June 12, the State withdrew charges against Moqeti in the Bloemfontein Regional Court.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said there was insufficient evidence against Moqeti.
He remains in custody in relation to other matters.
In May, the Hawks seized more than 1 600 firearms, explosives and hand grenades from Frederiksen's gun shop in Bloemfontein.
According to a police spokesperson, the firearms were confiscated on suspicion that Frederiksen might have used them in other crimes. There were no valid licences for about 75 firearms.
