Minor rape case thrown out of the Court in Maluti Regional Court
A supposedly missing docket at the Regional Court in Maluti has shattered the hopes of justice for a minor rape victim. This is after Magistrate Court struck the rape case off the roll on Thursday because the docket is missing. 46-year-old rape accused, Makhosi Kunutwa, appeared briefly at the Maluti Regional Court for allegedly raping his minor daughter on multiple accounts.
“How old is the child,?I am strucking the matter off the roll because there is no docket,” said Magistrate Court.
Kunutwa was apprehended on 24 December 2020 in KwaLunda village. His arrest supersedes a conversation that was overhead by Inam Mtumtum who brought the rape attention of the minor to the police after hearing elderly women in a taxi talking about it and their lack of compassion to assist the minor because of the alleged perpetrator’s church relations.
Mtumtum, who championed the arrest of Kunutwa expressed frustration at the new case development “ I am very frustrated and disappointed at the justice system. This started in March when I saw the accused roaming in the community, I then asked the police officer responsible for this case, what is this man doing back in the community?. She told me that the case was dismissed because witnesses did not appear in court, which is untrue because the date was not communicated.”
Oxfam South Africa, together with the Holekane Womanx support organisation also expressed their disappointment following this ruling” It is with disappointment that as Holekane Womanx support organization and Oxfam South Africa we hear that the case of Makhosi Kutwana who allegedly raped his minor daughter has been struck off the roll because of the missing docket…..
According to the organisation, the issue of missing dockets was raised and reported to the former Maluti Station Commander Colonel Plaatyie” This is one of the challenges that we have been encountering in our fight against GBVF its the missing dockets and ineffective policing on cases of GBVF around Matatiele/ Maluti Police Stations…
“In the last 3 months of April/May/ June 2021 we have been monitoring cases of GBVF in Maluti Magistrate Court, more than 20 cases have been thrown out of the Magistrate Court or didn’t find its way to be protected in Court. We tried to raise this issue with the ex Maluti Station Commander Colonel Plaatyie on the matter of his members who seem not to be prepared or incapacitated in dealing with these cases of GBVF … currently, we are trying to engage the Department of Justice and SAPS commissioner to reopen most cases of GBVF around Matatiele/Maluti Magistrate Courts who were struck of the roll due to the missing dockets and ineffective policing,” said the organisation.
