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The Pretoria Magistrates’ Court has postponed the case of the 20-year-old accused of raping a seven-year-old girl in the female bathroom of a Dros restaurant in Silverton to November 1 for further investigation.
In another ruling made during the proceedings, the Magistrates’ Court also granted the media the right to take photographs of the accused, 15 minutes before and after court proceedings.
An application for cameras to be allowed during proceedings brought forward by Media24 dominated the first part of the court proceedings on Tuesday morning.
Attorney Willem de Klerk, representing Media24, sought an urgent application to the court to grant permission to the media allowing them to shoot visuals before and after court proceedings.
De Klerk argued that the public had a right to be informed on the merits of the case as well as to “see the images”. He also added that the court was “a public space and that this case was of immense public interest”.
“There can be no prejudice to the accused or the state,” argued De Klerk who maintained that the media should be allowed to gather information unhindered.
Attorney for the accused, Rian du Plessis, mostly based his argument on the fact that this media application had been brought at the 11th hour giving the defence no time to prepare arguments against the application.
In an emotional plea, the defence attorney urged the court to decide “between the rights of the media to report and the accused’s rights to privacy and a fair trial”.
To this plea, De Klerk argued “it would be pointless to ban publication of further images now” since images of the accused had already been circulated.
Du Plessis conceded that there were pictures and a video of the accused that had been circulated on social media, but argued that “those images did not depict the accused in a court environment.
“Taking photos of the accused in court would be detrimental to the rights of the accused and his right to a fair trial as it will paint him in a different picture as opposed to the images of him already circulating,” argued Du Plessis.
The defence also argued that there was already “a frenzy” over the identity of the accused and that it was clear that this matter was causing “racial tension”, so he urged the court to uphold calm and order and prevent the community from taking matters into their own hands through revealing the accused’s identity even more.
The court, however, granted the media’s application to take still photographs of the accused before and after court proceedings in court but denied them the right to take videos.
The ruling was met by a loud applause from the packed gallery that included the family of the victim, Tshwane Mayor Solly Msimang and numerous political parties in their party regalia.
There were also some members from the ANC Women’s League but a noticeable absentee was Minister of Women in the Presidency Bathabile Dlamini.
The accused, Ninow, who had stitches on his right side of his head, his ear and neck and had his hair shaved was wearing a grey sweater before recess but after the ruling, he came back with a grey hoodie to cover himself from journalists trying to take pictures of him.
Once the court was back in session, the defence announced that it would not be bringing a bail application during Tuesday’s proceedings.
The state took the opportunity to request that the accused hand over his cellphone for the investigation.
The defence refused this request arguing that this would amount to “self-incrimination”.
The matter was postponed to November 1 for investigations to be carried out.
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