Rape accused model agency boss trial postponed to November for Judgement

African News Agency (ANA)

Rape accused model agency boss trial postponed to November for Judgement

Closing arguments ended on Wednesday and the trial of model agency boss Dawie De Villiers was postponed to 30 November for Judgement by the High Court sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrates Court.

The founder of Modelling South Africa (PTY) is accused of rape, sexual assault, indecent assault, sexual grooming, possession and accessing of child pornography as well as fraud and theft. The charges date back to 2010.

De Villiers also faces a charge of intimidation arising from an email in which he said he would kill his accuser.

Defence advocate Jacque Pienaar said the words expressed in the email conversation between De Villiers and Yolande Smit, whom the accused had been in a six-year relationship, were merely an angry response to the allegations of sexual assault made by one of the aspiring models.

In the email De Villiers said that he would kill one of the girls that accused him of sexual assault.

Pienaar called Smit to the witness stand to back up his claim that the email contents were nothing more than angry talk.

Smit said that De Villiers only said he would kill his accuser because he was angry that she had contacted the girl and that she said he had tried to force himself on her.

“He didn’t mean that he would physically do it,” she said.

Smit said that she couldn’t remember if she had forwarded the email to the girl that they were discussing in the email.

On Tuesday the state said there was enough evidence to convict the former model agency boss given the number of people who testified against the accused.

De Villiers denies all the allegations and maintains that his accusers are conspiring against him.

After the state and the defence concluded their arguments, Judge Cassim Moosa postponed the matter to November when he will hand down his judgement.

South Africa Today – South Africa News

SOURCEAfrican News Agency (ANA)