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- A member of the Boeremag right-wing terrorist group was rearrested for rape and sexual assault.
- He denied the allegations against him.
- He has made a bail application.
In a bail application, the Boeremag member accused of raping and sexually assaulting two teenagers argued that the State's case was open to some doubt.
The accused, who cannot be named until he pleads to the charges, appeared in the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate's Court on Monday for the continuation of his bail application.
The man was arrested earlier in August and charged with one count of rape and four counts of sexual assault.
The crimes were allegedly committed in Kleinfontein, an Afrikaner enclave in Pretoria, while he was out on parole for the Boeremag case.
READ | Boeremag member rearrested on rape charges has his parole revoked
It appears that both teenagers, aged 16 and 19 years-old, worked for the man and were also members of a survival-type camp he ran.
Summing up the accused's case for bail, his advocate, Francois Kriel, said:
- If the accused is not given bail, his business will suffer;
- He will not be able to provide for his family;
- His wife does not work and is looking after his children;
- If he is not given bail, his family will be left destitute;
- He should be allowed to stay in Kleinfontein on bail, but if the court does not allow this, he can find employment elsewhere because he has a doctorate in theology;
- He was imprisoned for 20 years and, as a result, missed out on the first few years of his son's life - and doesn't want to miss the first years of his second son, who is only a month old;
- The accused demonstrated that the prosecution's case was indeed open to some doubt;
- No evidence was led by the State that there were independent witnesses who saw these alleged crimes;
- It has been rebutted that he won't listen to bail conditions because he may have violated parole conditions;
- No evidence was led that he threatened anyone; and
- There was no evidence that he intimidated witnesses.
News24 previously reported that the man denied sexually assaulting the 16-year-old, who did admin work for him, and claimed his sexual interactions with the 19-year-old woman were consensual.
He also conceded to telling the minor that he had thought about what it would be like to kiss her.
The State vehemently opposed bail and led the evidence of the investigating officer, Sergeant Salamina Mmahobo.
Mmahobo testified that the woman's version differed completely.
She alleged the man grabbed her, pulled her towards him and that she could not move away. He then lifted, moved her panty away, and raped her with his finger.
Boeremag
News24 reported that the man was one of the 20 Boeremag members convicted and sentenced between 2012 and 2013 for treason and other crimes by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
The right-wing terrorist group wanted to overthrow the government in 2002 and had plans to assassinate former president Nelson Mandela.
READ | Boeremag member claims rape, sexual assault case orchestrated to remove him from Afrikaner enclave
The group was responsible for a series of bomb attacks in Soweto, which claimed the life of Claudia Mokone.
She was killed when a piece of steel, dislodged by a bomb the Boeremag planted on a railway, landed in her shack.
In addition to treason, he was also sentenced for manslaughter and attempted murder.
After serving around 20 years in prison, he was paroled in May 2022.
The bail application continues.
