Counsel for a coach facing allegations of paedophilia has questioned the way his client was duped into returning to SA.
|||Counsel for a sports coach facing allegations of paedophilia has launched a full assault on the manner in which his client was duped into returning to South Africa, and into police hands.
“No civilised system should tolerate trickery and deceit affecting the rights of citizens,” Gideon Scheltema, SC, said in closing remarks at his client’s bail application at the Durban Regional Court on Tuesday.
Scheltema told magistrate Trevor Levitt that the manner in which his client was arrested was questionable and could deem the arraignment and detention of the coach unlawful.
“I’m not arguing that this arrest was unlawful but in cases where an arrest is unlawful the authorities can release the accused on the spot,” he said. “There is a question mark over whether this arrest was lawful.”
The 41-year-old coach, a South African living in Europe and coaching an Olympic team there, faces allegations of sexual assault, sexual grooming and sexual exploitation of a child, as well as possession of child pornography. He cannot be named until he has pleaded.
The complainant was 12 years old at the time the offences were allegedly committed. She is now 14.
Earlier in the hearing the man testified that he returned to South Africa last month – on what was to have been a two-hour turnaround trip – to meet the girl’s father on the father’s insistence. It was on the premise that they would reconcile and that he would sign a non-disclosure agreement to keep the family’s name intact.
But the father told the court this week he had no intention of reconciling or meeting the coach, and admitted that he orchestrated his return.
He believed the man would not have done so had he known that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
The coach was apprehended at King Shaka International Airport by the SAPS’s Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit on April 24.
The father told the court the police had no idea why the coach was arriving that day. “All they knew was that they had to be there to issue the warrant,” he said.
Scheltema disagreed.
“Nowadays, the constitution and case law dealing with the constitution places great emphasis on morality,” he said.
“I don’t expect the prosecution to try to defend the conduct of the three gentlemen in bringing the accused back to South Africa in the manner they did,” he said,referring to the girl’s father and the two arresting officers, Warrant Officer Rickey Muthusamy and Captain Sam Naidoo.
Muthusamy and Naidoo told the court on Tuesday that the warrant of arrest was issued about a month before the coach was arrested.
Muthusamy, the investigating officer, said a “J50 warrant” was issued because the coach was overseas and his exact location was unknown. He said this warrant was normally circulated to all border posts but that in this case it was not.
He said he received a call from private investigator Mark Hardwick informing him that the coach was arriving at the airport.
“The first thing he (the coach) said to me was, ‘I was tricked’,” he said.
Muthusamy said: “I didn’t discuss with Hardwick how to get the accused into the country. It surprised me when he called and said the accused was arriving. It concerned me when the accused said he was tricked. To my knowledge there was nothing illegal going on.”
He said he had not interviewed the child’s parents because he had been dealing with Hardwick.
When asked if he was concerned that a private investigator was doing the job of the police, Naidoo said: “The PI was not engaged by police; his dealings are with the father. He has a right to open a docket. Once we took the docket, he had nothing to do with the investigation.”
Naidoo said although there was an extradition treaty between South Africa and the EU, it was a long process which would cost the taxpayer millions.
He denied he had helped bring the coach into the country. Naidoo said although he had heard the coach say he was tricked, he “saw no reason to worry about it”.
He also said there was no improper conduct on the part of his colleague.
The bail application continues.
Daily News
rizwana.umar@inl.co.za