GEORGE NEWS - A man who has been living with the sword of Damocles hanging over his head for the last two years, can finally breathe a sigh of relief after he was acquitted of all charges against him on Monday 22 February in the George Regional Court.
Roderick Wildeman (52) from Knysna was arrested on Sunday 19 February 2018 on a charge of raping a woman, then 18, in a tent in Wilderness in the early hours of Saturday morning, 18 February 2018.
Wildeman was part of a construction team that was working in the area at the time.
He was released on bail of R1 000 two weeks after his arrest. According to his legal representative, Bulelani Bans of Dercksen's Inc Attorneys, his client did not deny sleeping with the woman, but he vehemently denied having raped her.
She however stated that she did not consent to having sex with the man who is old enough to be her father. At that stage the victim told the police that she and Wildeman met in Wilderness Heights with some friends and they had a couple of beers together at the place where Wildeman and other members of his team were staying.
She allegedly fell asleep and when she woke up he was on top of her. She said she screamed, but the other people nearby were fast asleep and no one heard her. The victim told her mother about the alleged incident and her mother informed the police.
Wildeman's legal representative, Bulelani Bans of Dercksens Inc Attorneys George.
Wildeman's acquittal came after Bans presented the court with an application for discharge in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedures Act. In the application Bans stated that the victim's evidence was riddled with contradictions and when she was confronted with these contradictions she simply did not answer the questions put to her.
Bans also said when the victim testified in court she continued to edit and amend her testimony, especially when she was under cross-examination.
"She also refused to answer questions and submissions put to her," he said. Bans said that in essence, the demeanour of the complainant before and immediately after the incident was not synonymous with the reasonably expected demeanour of a rape victim.
"In my view her evidence is of such a poor quality that one simply does not know where the lies end and the truth begins. She even asked the accused to buy her a beer hours after the alleged incident took place," he said.
The state argued the dismissal but did not oppose it. The court found that the contradictions and improbability in the complainant's testimony were of such a nature that the accused did not have to answer to it and he was consequently acquitted.
The case served in front of Magistrate Emma Moloro and Hankie Marx was for the state.
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