Johannesburg – AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit is demanding that rape charges be added to the assault and sexual harassment charges against the accused in a matter before the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court.
AfriForum Private Prosecution Unit spokesperson Barry Bateman on Thursday said the unit was representing the complainant.
“Felicia Mkondo, who consented to being identified, approached the unit for help because, according to her, the prosecutor assigned to the case was ill-treating her, exposing her to secondary trauma, and evidence had gone missing from the docket,” explained Bateman.
The accused, who faces charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and sexual harassment, appeared in the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
However, Bateman said: “Despite allegations being made under oath and photo evidence showing a woman being sexually violated with a spoon, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has not charged the man accused of the crime with rape”.
He added: “Furthermore, prosecutors at the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court ignored Afriforum’s Private Prosecution Unit’s request that the case be transferred to a regional court and the man charged with this serious sexual offence.”
The accused cannot be identified until he has pleaded to the charges.
The case was postponed to 1 August 2024 for trial.
However, Bateman said the Private Prosecution Unit would make further representations to the NPA to ensure the accused was also charged with rape.
He said the unit had written twice to a senior public prosecutor to argue that rape charges should be added because there was ample evidence.
“Both letters have gone unanswered,” Bateman said.
The alleged offences occurred between February 2020 and December 2022, while the complainant and the accused were in a romantic relationship.
Bateman said to avoid any possible obstacle “that may prevent access to our letters, we handed over two hard copies to the prosecutor in court” Thursday morning.
“As stated in the letter to the NPA, it was during this period that the accused allegedly subjected the complainant to physical and sexual violence, such as inserting a tablespoon into her private parts whilst highly pregnant which resulted in massive bleeding; punching, slapping, throttling and throwing her against walls,” Bateman said.
Commenting on the matter, Mkondo said the NPA has not taken her case seriously.
“I was actually abused sexually, physically. I had pictures, and I’ve got evidence, but every day when I came to court, the evidence was not there,” lamented Mkondo.
“The crucial pictures were missing all the time. “With AfriForum, they communicate with me, they ask me how I feel.
“I sleep like a baby. The way they treat me, they call me, they update me. It’s what I was expecting from the court of law to treat me that way, but no, they did the opposite.”
Bateman said the NPA continues to fail female victims of crime.
“The treatment complainants continue to suffer at the hands of prosecutors is a far cry from the lofty commitments made by NPA leadership, who are so far removed from the realities experienced in the courts,” Bateman said.
In April this year, NDPP Shamila Batohi said gender-based violence was “the most important women’s human rights issue that government and society must address as a collective.
“The rape and killing of our women is, in fact, reflective of the society that is devoid of a sense of humanity.”
