The 24-year-old grandson of Winnie and Nelson Mandela, former South African President, who appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court over an alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl in August 7 at a popular restaurant in Greenside, South Africa, has been granted bail.
It will be recalled that the accused was arrested on Friday, 14th August.
The accused had earlier admitted in court last week that he did have sex with the said girl but was consensual, even as he believed the girl was older than 16.
He claimed he sat on a chair while the girl straddled him during sex.
News24 reports that the statement by a key witness, Goola Singh, a chef at the restaurant where the alleged rape took place, claimed to have seen the grandson of Nelson Mandela and his teenage rape accuser kissing passionately.
The chef according to the report was instrumental to his release on bail.
The court set the bail between R5 and R10000 because he was unemployed, and had two children, and expecting a third child.
The accused’s lawyer, Marinda Velsman, told the court that his client, Mandela’s grandson, didn’t want to be tried as a Mandela but he wants to be tried as a normal person.
Marinda handed in an affidavit by Goola Singh, employed as a chef at the restaurant where the alleged rape took place. Goola said he saw the accused and the girl kissing passionately in a passage.
“I noticed nothing untoward between the man and the woman outside my window. They seemed very comfortable with each other. If there had been noises of a struggle I would have heard,” Goola’s affidavit reads.
The complainant, however, said the accused allegedly kissed her forcefully, put his hands in her pants, threw her on the floor and raped her. She said she was screaming at the time.
The suspect’s lawyer argued that his client had no way of knowing the girl was underage as the restaurant had a policy barring anyone younger than 21.
He claimed the complainant was drinking alcohol and smoking with her friends. Therefore, these were some reasons he believed her to be of the age of consent.
The defense disputed the girl’s age and claimed a birth certificate handed in to the court was not hers.
Marinda referred to accounts on social media sites; Facebook and Twitter, said to be maintained by the complainant that appeared to show her to be older than 16.
The accused was granted bail at R7000.
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