PORT ELIZABETH, ANA - The Port Elizabeth High Court is expected to hand down judgment next week in the trial of a 28-year-old man charged with raping a mentally disabled woman.
Nathan Fourie pleaded not guilty to the charges that include rape and assault when his trial got underway earlier this week.
The state alleges that Fourie raped the woman, who has the intellectual capacity of a four-year-old child, in abuilding in Timothy Valley in June last year.
During closing argument on Friday, StateAdvocate Ilse Loots said that state witnesses who testified in the trial were honest and reliable and their versions of events were corroborated.
“The only reasonable inference is that he took her to that building to rape her,” said Loots.
Fourie’slegal counsel countered by saying that it was possible that someone else had caused the internal injuries to the mentally disabled woman.
Replying to a question from Judge Jannie Eksteen, Fourie’s counsel said there was no evidence of sexual intercourse and the woman could possibly have screamed because of injuries sustained from another time.
“So, she suddenly started screaming while standing in the building,” Eksteen questioned.
Clinical psychologist Isabell Marais, testified earlier that the woman suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and fears being without her mother. She said that the woman suffered from “severe” intellectual disability and has the mental capacity of a four-year-old child.
Judgment in the case will be handed down next week Tuesday.
–African News Agency (ANA)
