Tennis star in the dock

Thirty-four years after former doubles tennis champion Bob Hewitt allegedly raped Twiggy Tolken, she has finally relayed her tale from the witness stand.

Hewitt, 75, gave Tolken, 47, tennis lessons for about six months, starting when she was 12, the Johannesburg High Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court heard yesterday.

It was during this time that he allegedly wrote her love letters, kissed her on the mouth and touched her breasts and vagina.

Hewitt faces two charges of rape and one of sexual assault after three of his former students accused him of abusing them while they were minors. He has pleaded not guilty. "It started off when I went to his house for tennis lessons. After tennis he gave me a kiss behind his car on my mouth," Tolken, who has consented to being named, said.

"He forced me to touch his penis and it was hard," she said when she described the time she spent with her coach after tennis lessons and before he dropped her off at home.

Tolken said she did not know what to do and she felt "awkward," "scared" and "embarrassed".

In December 1980, she accompanied Hewitt to Sun City, where her father was due to play in a golf tournament and Hewitt coached tennis.

Tolken said Hewitt abused her on the way to Sun City and later raped her in his hotel room.

According to Tolken, Hewitt stopped after she told him it hurt.

"I will try again later," he said after he had stopped, she testified.

Tolken's mother, Colleen, testified that she had believed Hewitt was a gentleman and that she had trusted him.

She said she found out about her daughter's alleged rape about two months after it happened and that she had been living with guilt related to the incident ever since.

The Tolkens, who now live in New Zealand, reported the alleged incidents to the police in 1981 but were advised not to proceed with the case because Twiggy was just 13 years old at the time, they said.

Hewitt, who has missed previous court appearances due to ill health, was in the dock yesterday and denied allegations by Tolken, Suellen Sheehan and a third complainant.

"Prince Andrew and Bill Cosby are the latest victims of the wild and belated allegations of sexual impropriety. In my case, it is not true and I strongly dispute it," he said in his plea explanation, which Judge Bert Bam described as "sentimental".