Cape Town - A 40-year-old man has been granted bail in the Hermanus Magistrate’s Court in the Western Cape after being charged with grooming and raping a 12-year-old girl.
The businessman is alleged to have groomed the girl from December 2021 and raped her in July 2022.
The court granted the man R10 000, despite the State prosecutor vehemently opposing his release.
According to the Western Cape spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Eric Ntabazalila the man made some admissions in court pertaining to the crimes brought against him.
“He confessed to having sexual intercourse with the girl because he thought she was older than 16 years old.
“He never confessed to rape.
“He also indicated he had three other girlfriends - two in Grabouw and another one in Hermanus but both were older,” Ntabazalila said.
The court heard the grooming started while the victim was 11 years old and via social media.
The man confessed to having physical contact with the young girl three or four times but claimed there were no sexual acts at the time.
After granting him bail, Ntabazalila said the accused in the matter was given a set of bail conditions by the court.
“After setting bail, the court set conditions that he is not allowed to visit Hawston and not to make direct or indirect contact with the complainant,” Ntabazalila said.
The matter has been postponed until October 13 for further investigations.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
*This story has been updated to reflect that the accused did not confess as was earlier told to us by the NPA.
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