A woman described two days of sheer terror, beginning with an encounter with her former lover at a local shopping mall, in evidence in court in Grahamstown this week. Thembeni Plaatjie reports
A woman described two days of sheer terror, beginning with an encounter with her former lover at a local shopping mall, in evidence in court in Grahamstown this week. Thembeni Plaatjie reports
State prosecutor Nickie Turner said the only reason a man accused of kidnapping and raping his ex-girlfriend had taken her to an isolated area, 7km out of town, was so he could punish her without anyone seeing him.
Shane de Bruyn, 41, said he'd wanted a quiet place where he could talk to his 21-year-old former lover.
The day after that encounter in May last year, the young woman was admitted to hospital with extensive injuries to her head and face and multiple abrasions on her body. She had permanent hearing loss as a result of blows to her head.
This was evidence heard in the high court in Grahamstown this week, where the Extension 9 man faces charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, kidnapping, and rape.
According to a court indictment, De Bruyn was in a relationship with the young woman's sister. He and the sister had a child.
The young woman – the child's aunt – had also been in a relationship with De Bruyn but had ended it early last year.
She told the court she was at the Shoprite mall in Market Street with a friend, when De Bruyn grabbed her, forced her into a vehicle and told the driver to drop them off at an isolated spot along the N2 highway.
The driver left, the woman said, and De Bruyn dragged her into the bushes, assaulted her and after tying her to a tree, undressed her and raped her.
As it got dark, she told the court, De Bruyn fetched his car and drove her to a local hotel. There he acquired a room, forced her into it and raped her again.
The next day, she said, he put her on the back seat of his car and drove with her to East London, later returning to Grahamstown.
She told her mother, who called the police.
She was admitted to hospital and, according to court papers, the doctor who examined her noted extensive injuries to her head and face and multiple abrasions on her body. As a result of blows to her head, the woman suffered permanent hearing loss in her right ear.
While De Bruyn admitted assaulting the woman, he denied he'd kidnapped or raped her when he testified on Wednesday.
De Bruyn said he'd suspected that the woman, whom he referred to as his girlfriend, was having a relationship with one of her colleagues.
“On the day of the incident I was with my friend when I saw my girlfriend in the car of her colleague. I asked my friend to follow the car, as I was suspicious," De Bruyn told the court.
"We followed them until they stopped at Shoprite parking. I got out of the car and confronted her.
"She did not answer.
"I grabbed her by the hand and told her come along. I put her in my friend's vehicle and told him to drive off, and my friend dropped us on the turn to Manley Flats,” he said.
Asked by defence counsellor Andre Swart, what his intention had been, De Bruyn said he had wanted to discuss matters with her.
“I wanted a quiet place where we could sit down and talk,” he said.
"I asked her to come to an open place and she refused. I grabbed her towards an open veld," he told the court.
"She told me I'm the one for her. She said she can show me that I'm the only one she is interested in. She started to undress herself, and she asked me to have sex with her."
During cross-examination state prosecutor Nickie Turner asked him why he had dragged the woman, and why he'd had to take her seven kilometres out of town.
Turner put it to De Bruyn that the only reason he'd taken his ex-girlfriend there was because he'd wanted to punish her, and hadn't wanted anybody to see him doing so.
De Bruyn said it was because he hadn't wanted anyone to interfere.
The trial continues under acting Judge Mandisa Kahla.
