JUDGE RELUCTANT TO GRANT SODV SUSPECTS BAIL

MBABANE - Judge Sipho Nkosi has expressed a reluctance to grant bail on impulse to people who are accused of abusing minors.

The judge made an example of the case of a teenage girl who committed suicide after the man who had been arrested for sexually abusing her was granted bail and he continued to harass her after being released. Judge Nkosi was dealing with an application for bail which was filed by a 30-year-old man who has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a Form I pupil, who is 14 years old.

Consent

Mncobi Nkambule has been charged under the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act 15/2018. He is alleged to have had sexual intercourse with the minor without her consent. The offence, according to Section 185 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of 1938, was accompanied by aggravating factors. He is also alleged to have taken advantage of the minor due to her age. When Nkambule’s bail was heard, Judge Nkosi was informed that the Crown was not opposed to the bail application and that both attorneys had concluded that he should be granted bail. This was, however, not to be as Judge Nkosi questioned Dumisani Hleta of DEMHleta Legal, who represents Nkambulem, as to what would happen if the court released the accused and he sexually abused another minor. The Crown is represented by Crown Counsel Ayanda Matsenjwa in the matter.

Agreed

Instead of granting the accused bail, since the terms had been agreed upon by the parties, Judge Nkosi had other ideas. The judge told Nkambule’s representative that the accused, who was not present yesterday, should be brought to court tomorrow because there were things the court should establish from him. Judge Nkosi also summoned the investigating officer and ordered officials from the Social Welfare Department in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office to pay the complainant a visit to find out how she was doing. The judge further directed that the doctor who examined the minor should provide his report to the court tomorrow.

Nkambule is alleged to have committed the offence on November 29, 2019. He told the court that the complainant was friends with his niece and they were neighbours. He submitted that on the day of the alleged rape, the complainant, who he has known since she was very young, was in the company of his niece at his maternal homestead. According to Nkambule, there were others at the homestead and he allegedly left his niece and her friend when he accompanied some of the people who were there. The veracity of these allegations is still to be tested in court.

Nkambule alleged that he left the area and visited his father and on December 23, 2019, he received a phone call from his mother informing him that the complainant’s parents were at her homestead to report that “I had sexual intercourse with *Lolo on November 29, 2019.” Nkambule said he returned to his maternal home on December 27, 2019 and met Lolo at the local sports ground during a soccer match in the festive season.  He alleged that he enquired from her about the allegation made by her parents that he had raped her.

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