By Luvuyo Mjekula
A South African Police Service (Saps) detective this week narrated how he used Facebook to trace and arrest a man accused of raping a 22-year-old Rhodes University student last year.
Constable Akhona Hlwithana of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit, based in Makhanda testified in the Makhanda High Court this week in the trial of two men charged with the student’s rape near the Settlers Monument on 16 March 2024.
The two – 19-year-old Zephanic Lushaan Martins from Kirkwood and 21-year-old Antonio Angelo Rudman from Gqeberha – had appeared to rescue the student from a robber after she lost contact with her friends, only to drive her to a remote area near Settlers Monument where they are accused of taking turns raping her.
Hlwithana, the investigating officer, told the court he had spotted the would-be suspects on CCTV footage from the Rhodes University Campus Prorection Unit (CPU), but struggled to locate either one.
Two visits to the incident scene with the complainant yielded no leads. However, with the help of a cousin of Rudman’s, who had seen him on the footage, the police confirmed his identity.
Hlwithana decided to try a profile search on Facebook. “Luckily, in his profile picture, he wore the same outfit he had on in the CCTV footage,” the detective testified. He immediately made a print-out of the profile photograph, and after gatherng more information, including the fact that at the time of the incident, he had been “squatting” at a warden’s residence on Rhodes campus, but had vanished on the morning after the incident, the investigation intensified.
Hlwithana said he sent Rudman a message on Facebook, to which he replied he was in Gqeberha and did not have money to travel to Makhanda. He did not respond to requests for his address or offers to provide him with transport.
Then, 25 days after the alleged rape, Hlwithana made a significant breakthrough while walking near Spar supermarket in Makhanda on 8 April 2024. He spotted the same white vehicle he had seen on CCTV footage leaving Rhodes campus after the driver dropped off the complainant and a man in the early hours of 17 March 2024. He had tried to follow the car, to no avail.
The vehicle turned out to belong to Martin’s (accused one) girlfriend. Hlwithana visited her flat on 10 April and found and arrested Martins on a rape charge. Thirteen days later, Rudman handed himself over to the police and was also arrested.
They both appeared in the Makhanda Magistrate’s Court and were granted R1 000 bail each. The two have pleaded not guilty to raping the student, citing consensual sex. However, the state says they acted in the furtherance of a common purpose or conspiracy.
According to the indictment, the student, who may not be named, had gone out with her friends on the night of 16 March 2024, but had become separated from them and started walking alone towards campus.
Testifying in court earlier in the trial, the student said a man in a car guard vest took her phone and wallet, claiming he would keep them safe for her. She said two men then came in a car. The passenger (Rudman) recovered her belongings and offered her a ride. He sat in the back with her as the car drove off.
She asked to be dropped off at the Steve Biko residence on Rhodes campus but they drove her to a secluded area where they raped her. They then drove her toward campus, where Rudman tried to persuade her to go with him to his place, she testified, but she refused and walked away from him. She later collapsed and was spotted by passersby.
Defence advocate Marius van Zyl said according to his client, Martins, the complainant had voluntarily engaged in sexual activity, including instructing Rudman to perform sexual acts. The complainant denied these claims. She testified that the accused touched her without her consent.
The state has called several other witnesses including Settlers Hospital medical doctor, Thembile Zintonga, whose testimony centered around inconclusive forensic evidence. Zintonga told the court no DNA evidence could be found from swabs extracted from the complainant’s underwear and body.
Despite the defence’s attempts to use this to exclude the two accused from the case, state advocate Jan Engelbrecht objected. “There is no report that says DNA does not belong to the two accused. The test results say no DNA was found,” Engelbrecht argued.
Zintonga said the inconclusive outcome could be attributed to an incorrect swabbing technique used, or the fluid extracted could belong to a different person, an indication the complainant could have been with someone else before the incident, possibly her boyfriend. However, the doctor explained that this was unlikely considering the complainant said she had last had consensual intimacy with her boyfriend about seven days before the incident.
A controversial moment ensued in court when judge Sunil Rugunanan scolded defence advocate Chris Mzamo for insinuating that he had appeared to align himself with the state on the matter. “I will hold you in contempt of court if you don’t retract your statement,” Rugunanan fumed.
Rhodes’ CPU manager Percy Mabotja and shift supervisor George Goliath, have also taken the stand.
The trial continues.
