Mandela rape case withdrawn - for now

10 March 2016 - 02:44 By S'duduzo Dludla

A grandson of the late Nelson Mandela still has a case of rape to answer to even though charges against him were provisionally withdrawn, the National Prosecuting Authority said.The 24-year-old man appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court yesterday.He can only be named once he has entered a plea.Prosecutor Nadine Nel applied to have the charges provisionally withdrawn pending further investigation.Nel said the prosecution was consulting a psychiatrist to assess whether the complainant was fit to testify in the trial."We need to act in the best interest of our client [the complainant]," said Nel.Advocate Marinda Veldsman, for the accused, wanted the matter to be struck off the roll permanently.But Magistrate Hasina Habib said the charges would not be withdrawn indefinitely and it would be up to the prosecution to reinstate the charges at a later stage, or not.NPA spokesman Phindi Louw said: "We believe the accused still has a case to answer to."But new information has emerged that requires further investigation and so, rather [than asking] to postpone the matter, we have decided to provisionally withdraw [the charges]."The accused faced charges of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault after allegedly assaulting a 15-year-old girl in an alley outside a restaurant in Greenside, Johannesburg, in August last year.In his bail application, he said he had consensual sex with the girl and he believed that she was older than 16.The accused wanted the court to prevent the contents of his affidavit being published, but Habib shot down the request saying that the proceedings had taken place in an open court...

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