Three men accused of raping an Extension 9 teenager have been cleared of rape charges after results of DNA tests excluded them as suspects.
Three men accused of raping an Extension 9 teenager have been cleared of rape charges after results of DNA tests excluded them as suspects.
The court was packed with supporters of the 17-year-old girl and they were stunned when state prosecutor Robert Ludick told the court that the DNA results showed none of the three men's bodily fluids had been found in the girl's private parts, or on material found at the crime scene.
Ludick said the DNA results from the laboratory excluded all three of the accused.
The men's legal aid attorney Henry Charles immediately asked for both counts to be withdrawn against his clients.
Thanduxolo Peter, Masixole Manyathi and Vuyo Royi were arrested in March, shortly after the teenager was gang raped, wrapped in a carpet and dumped in a yard in Extension 9.
The three men identified by the girl were charged with rape and attempted murder. They all pleaded not guilty.
The trial began on Monday 18 November with the emotional testimony of the Extension 9 teenager.
She gave a chilling account of the events on 22 March. Testifying from another room on closed-circuit television transmitted to the Grahamstown Regional Court, the teenager told the court how she had been attacked before passing out.
She had been drinking at a friend's house on the night of the incident, she said. She passed out, she said, and woke up about 11pm to go home. On her way home, she said, she met the three accused.
She told the court that Manyathi asked her when she would concede to his romantic advances. She had replied, ”That would never happen.”
According to the teenager, Peter then asked co-accused Manyathi, “Are you going to let her go?”
Manyathi then allegedly smacked the girl, while his two friends stood behind her. She said she was hit on her back with a sharp object and passed out.
The teenager said she didn't remember anything that happened after she was struck from behind. She said she regained consciousness only once she was at Settler's hospital, where she was also told she had been raped.
Magistrate Thembela Mata said it would be unconstitutional to charge them with rape, taking into account that the DNA results had excluded them as suspects and the fact she was unconscious during the rape.
Mata found all three men not guilty of rape and dropped charges against all three on the rape count.
However, the magistrate found they would still have to answer for the attempted murder charges, because the complainant had placed the men at the scene of the incident in her testimony. She had testified that Manyathi smacked her, while the other two men stood behind her.
Mata postponed the case to 3 December for further investigation.
Read Friday's print edition for the family and community members' reactions.
