Case Law[2024] ZAGPPHC 311South Africa
Khumalo v S (A146/2022) [2024] ZAGPPHC 311 (2 April 2024)
High Court of South Africa (Gauteng Division, Pretoria)
2 April 2024
Judgment
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# South Africa: North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria
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## Khumalo v S (A146/2022) [2024] ZAGPPHC 311 (2 April 2024)
Khumalo v S (A146/2022) [2024] ZAGPPHC 311 (2 April 2024)
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sino date 2 April 2024
IN THE HIGH COURT OF
SOUTH AFRICA
GAUTENG DIVISION,
PRETORIA
1.
REPORTABLE:
NO
2. OF INTEREST TO
OTHER JUDGES: NO
3.
REVISED.
## Case number: A146/2022
Case number: A146/2022
Date:
02 April 2024
In
the matter between:
THABO
JACOB KHUMALO
APPELLANT
##
## and
and
THE
STATE
RESPONDENT
JUDGMENT
BRAND
AJ (with PHAHLANE J)
Introduction
[1]
The appellant, Thabo Jacob Khumalo, was on 29 September 2021
convicted of rape of an eight-year-old child (the complainant)
in the
Regional Court in Pretoria. On 17 November 2021, he was sentenced to
life imprisonment, in terms of
section 51(1)
of the
Criminal Law
Amendment Act 105 of 1997
. He was also declared unfit to possess a
firearm; declared to be unfit to work with children, in terms of
section 120(1)
of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005; and it was
ordered that his name be registered on the National Register for Sex
Offenders.
[2]
On 22 November 2021, the appellant noted appeal against his
conviction and sentence, utilising his right to do so in terms
of
section 309
of the
Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977
. It is this
appeal that is now before us. Below, I address first the appeal
against conviction and then turn to the sentence.
Conviction
Background
[3]
As is the case in many rapes, in this matter there are only two
witnesses with firsthand knowledge of the rape: the complainant,
who
alleges the appellant raped her; and the appellant, who denies it.
However, there are two further complications that apply
in
combination to fewer rapes. First, the complainant was an
eight-year-old child when she was raped and ten years old at trial.
Second, there is no physical evidence to link the appellant to the
rape.
[1]
In sum, this case was
decided by the trial court and must be decided by us, on strength of
the testimony of the child complainant
that the accused raped her
alone, as against the appellant’s version that he did not.
[4]
The complainant’s version is as follows:
[4.1] On 6 December
2018, she was with her sister and some friends in the street in front
of the appellant’s house.
She decided to go to the appellant’s
house to buy ice lollies (which the appellant sold from his house).
She saw no one other
than the appellant in his house or on his yard.
[4.2] After she had
bought the lollies from him, the appellant pulled her toward his
shack, a separate structure from the
house but on the same yard.
Inside the shack, he took off her clothes, including her underpants
and also undressed himself, including
his underwear. He told her to
lie down on her back on the bed and then lay down on top of her. He
inserted his penis into her vagina
and had intercourse. She screamed
but no one heard her.
[4.3] When he had
finished, he told her not to tell anyone what had happened. She then
managed to leave. When she came upon
her sister outside the
appellant’s gate, she told her what had happened. Her sister
took her to her grandmother, who they
also told what had happened.
Her grandmother in turn went to tell her aunt.
[4.4] Her aunt took
her back to the appellant’s house. She called the appellant and
when he came out, she asked him
what he had done to the complainant.
The complainant herself said to him that he had done something
painful to her. The appellant
responded that he had done nothing to
her.
[4.5] From the
appellant’s house the complainant’s aunt first took her
to the police station, where they reported
the rape, and she was
interviewed. From there she took her to the clinic, where she was
asked and had to explain what had been
done to her and was given an
injection and some pills.
[5]
The appellant’s version in turn was the following:
[5.1] On 6 December
2018 the complainant came into his house to buy ice lollies. Once she
had paid for the lollies, he went
to the fridge, took the lollies,
and gave them to her.
[5.2] After he gave
the lollies to the complainant, a friend of hers arrived and they
left his house together, going to a
house three houses down from the
complainant’s, to play there on the pavement. When the
complainant left, she was not crying.
The complainant was in his
house for no longer than three minutes.
[5.3] The appellant
denied that he raped the complainant and said he does not know why
she would claim that he did. He said
that his mother was seated next
to the open front door of the house both when the complainant arrived
and when she left, and that
she, had she not since passed away, would
have been able to testify that the complainant was not crying when
she left. He also
claimed that the complainant saw his mother sitting
there.
[5.4] About an hour
later the complainant’s grandmother and aunt, and the
complainant came to his house where they first
met his mother. His
mother came to call him from his shack. When he came to the house,
his mother said that the people there said
he had raped the
complainant. He denied it. The complainant’s grandmother then
told her to pull down her underpants and when
she did so, neither he
nor his mother saw anything. After this, the grandmother said they
can’t do anything further without
the complainant’s
mother (who was not present) and they left. Later the same day he was
arrested for the rape.
[6]
Several other witnesses testified for the State: Sister Ncube, the
nurse who examined the complainant at the Daveyton
Clinic on the day
of the rape; the complainant’s aunt, Ms Mkhwanazi (a teacher at
a local school); the complainant’s
older sister; and one of the
complainant’s friends. In broad terms their evidence
corroborated the version of the complainant.
I return to this in the
discussion below.
Discussion
[4]
The approach to evaluating the findings of fact of a trial court on
appeal is well settled: ‘In short, in the absence
of
demonstrable and material misdirection by the trial Court, its
findings of fact are presumed to be correct and will only be
disregarded if the recorded evidence shows them to be clearly
wrong.’
[2]
[5]
This general approach applies particularly acutely concerning
findings of fact based on oral evidence, such as are in
issue in this
appeal.
[3]
These findings hinge
on conclusions of the trial court concerning the reliability and
credibility of witnesses. These conclusions
are quite obviously
better reached when one actually sees and hears the witnesses and can
assess their demeanour and appearance
firsthand, than when one relies
on a record of the testimony, as on appeal.
[4]
[6]
In this matter the judgment of the trial court is based entirely on
oral evidence, with no physical evidence of the rape.
Accordingly, we
approach the discussion below well aware of the generally cautious
approach we must apply as appellate court.
[7]
As stated in the introduction to this judgment, our consideration of
the evidence in this appeal is further complicated
(as it was also
for the trial court) by the fact that the appellant’s
conviction was based on the testimony of a single witness
who is also
a child. Both the fact that the complainant was a single witness and
a child witness attract application of the cautionary
rule.
[8]
The cautionary rule means simply that courts should approach the
testimony of those categories of witnesses to which it
applies
carefully and should seek to apply some kind of safeguard, tailored
to the particular reasons that make their testimony
suspect, to avoid
as far as possible an incorrect finding based on their testimony.
[5]
[9]
Caution should, however, not supplant common sense.
[6]
Ultimately, courts should
assess the testimony of the witness for its reliability and
credibility in light of the specific context
of the case, while
remaining aware of the particular reasons why the suspect category of
witness should be treated with care and
trying to mitigate those.
[7]
[10]
Concerning single witnesses, the point of departure is that provided
by
section 208
of the CPA: That an accused may be convicted of any
offence on the single evidence of any competent witness. It has
further been
held that the testimony of a single witness must be
‘
clear
and satisfactory in every material respect
’
;
and that where the single witness
‘
has
an interest or bias adverse to the accused’, it must be
approached with particular caution.
[8]
[11]
Nonetheless, it is clear that ‘
[t]here
is no rule of thumb, test or formula to apply when it comes to a
consideration of the credibility of the single witness’
[9]
and that ‘
[t]he
trial Judge will weigh [their] evidence, will consider its merits and
demerits and, having done so, will decide whether it
is trustworthy
and whether, despite the fact that there are shortcomings or defects
or contradictions in the testimony, [they are]
satisfied that the
truth has been told
’
.
[10]
[12]
For child witnesses, the position is similar. Although misgivings
with application of the cautionary rule to child witnesses
have been
expressed,
[11]
the approach is
still simply that the evidence of particularly young children, should
be approached with caution.
[12]
But this caution should be exercised simply as part of the ordinary
approach to assessing evidence in a criminal trial, which is:
[13]
‘
to
weigh up all the elements which point towards the guilt of the
accused against those which are indicative of his innocence, taking
proper account of inherent strengths and weaknesses, probabilities,
and improbabilities on both sides and, having done so, to decide
whether the balance weighs so heavily in favour of the State as to
exclude any reasonable doubt about the accused’s guilt.’
[13]
In this matter, did the trial court approach the testimony of the
complainant with the necessary level of caution given
that she is
both a young child and a single witness, while deciding whether ‘the
balance weighs so heavily in favour of the
State as to exclude any
reasonable doubt about the [appellant’s] guilt’?
[14]
[14]
Unlike in the recent matter of
Sekoala
v S
[15]
where the Supreme Court
of Appeal overturned a conviction based on the single testimony of a
rape complainant in part because the
trial court failed at all to
take account of the cautionary rule concerning single witnesses in
its assessment of her evidence,
in this matter the trial court was
acutely aware in its assessment of the complainant’s testimony
that it should be approached
with caution both because she is a child
and single witness.
[16]
[15]
The trial court commences its assessment of the complainant’s
testimony with the following statement:
[17]
‘
[T]he
victim in this matter is a single witness with regards to the
incident that happened in the accused’s house. She is
also a
child witness and for both these reasons the cautionary rules
applicable to the evidence of a single witness as well as
that of a
child witness should be applied to her evidence. The Court should
therefore find guarantees for [the] reliability of
her version.’
[16]
It not only makes this statement in the abstract but then proceeds to
apply several such ‘guarantees for [the]
reliability’ of
the complainant’s version. The first such guarantee is in the
corroboration of the complainant’s
evidence by the versions
presented by all the other witnesses, including in several respects
even the accused. Specifically, the
trial court lists the following
corroboration:
[16.1] The
testimony of the complainant’s sister (also a child witness)
corroborates all aspects of the complainant’s
testimony
concerning her movements on the day of the rape, leading up to the
rape and concerning what happened afterwards.
[18]
[16.2] The
testimony of the complainant’s friend (also a child witness)
that also corroborates the complainant’s
testimony concerning
her movements before and after the rape.
[19]
Here the trial court notes one discrepancy: the friend testified that
she saw the accused’s mother through the open front
door of the
main house on the accused’s yard, while the complainant
testified that there was no one else on the accused’s
yard when
the rape happened. The trial court discounts this discrepancy as
immaterial, to my mind cogently: The magistrate points
out that it is
clear that the complainant simply didn’t see the accused’s
mother through the open front door (at the
time the complainant
entered the house, the mother could have been anywhere else in the
house or on the yard), so that she testified
that there was no one
else on the yard.
[20]
[16.3] The
testimony of the complainant’s aunt, which corroborates every
aspect of the complainant’s testimony
about what transpired
from the moment the aunt was informed of the rape.
[21]
[16.4] The
testimony of Sister Ncube, the nurse who examined the complainant
when she was brought to the clinic, which unequivocally
corroborates
that she was indeed raped.
[22]
[16.5] The
accused’s testimony, which but for his denial of the rape and
his assertion that his mother was in the main
house while the
complainant was on his yard, also corroborates every aspect of her
testimony concerning her movements around the
time that the rape
occurred.
[23]
[16]
The trial court notes that the three child witnesses also
cross-corroborate one another, which indicates that the magistrate
also considered and applied the cautionary rule concerning child
witnesses to the sister and the friend’s testimony.
[17]
The trial court also considers the quality of the testimony of the
complainant, and the other four witnesses for the
state and concludes
that ‘on a conspectus of all the evidence that was presented to
court these witnesses gave their evidence
in a logical, chronological
manner’ and that there were ‘no improbabilities in any of
the witnesses’ evidence
and no material contradiction’.
[24]
[18]
From the record it is clear that the magistrate was careful during
the testimony of all three the child witnesses (the
complainant, her
sister and her friend) to apply particular safeguards to ensure the
integrity of their testimony, properly ensuring
that they understood
the difference between truth and lie
[25]
and intervening where necessary (and appropriately so) in those cases
where misunderstandings seemed to arise.
[26]
[19]
In sum, I am satisfied that the trial court approached the testimony
of the complainant as single child witness, and
the testimony of the
two other child witnesses with the requisite level of caution and
employed appropriate safeguards, including
corroboration, to conclude
that the complainant’s testimony could be accepted.
[20]
The trial court then proceeded to consider together the testimony of
all the witnesses, including the accused. On this
basis, it
concludes:
[20.1] that
the complainant was indeed raped on the day in question, after she
went to the accused’s yard to buy lollies;
and
[20.2]
‘there was no opportunity for anyone else to do something to
the [complainant] on that day from the time that
she visited the
accused’.
[27]
[21]
As against this, the trial court found that the accused’s
denial that he raped the complainant, while admitting
all other
material aspect of the state’s version, meant that his was
simply a ‘bare denial’. If compared to the
version of the
state, which the trial court found to be ‘such that [it could]
rely on it in order to come to a finding’,
this ‘bare
denial’ could not reasonably possibly be true and was ‘rejected
as being false’.
[28]
On
this basis, the accused was then convicted.
[22] I can find
neither a material misdirection in the trial court’s assessment
of the evidence nor any aspect where
it is ‘clearly wrong’
in its findings of fact. The trial court applied the correct test to
arrive at its eventual conclusion
concerning the guilt of the accused
(that, on a conspectus of all the evidence, there is no reasonable
doubt as to his guilt) and
also appropriately assessed the evidence
of the complainant and the other witnesses (by approaching the
testimony of the complainant
as single child witness and of the two
other child witnesses with appropriate caution and demonstrably
applying safeguards, including
corroboration in exercise of that
caution).
[23] The trial
court’s assessment of the evidence included consideration of
the quality of the evidence provided by
all the witnesses and a
proper interrogation of possible improbabilities in and
contradictions between that evidence. I cannot
find any reason to
doubt the trial court’s conclusion that the state’s
version permits of no reasonable doubt while
the accused’s,
cannot be reasonably possibly true; let alone any indication that it
is ‘clearly wrong’.
[24] Accordingly, I
find that the trial court was correct in its rejection of the
accused’s version and acceptance of
the state’s and in
its conclusion that the accused had raped the complainant. The appeal
against conviction must be dismissed.
The sentence
Background
[25]
For his rape of the complainant, the appellant was sentenced to life
imprisonment, in terms of section 51(1) of the Criminal
Law Amendment
Act 105 of 1997 (‘the Act’); declared unfit to possess a
firearm; declared to be unfit to work with children,
in terms of
section 120(1) of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005; and it was
ordered that his name be registered on the National
Register for Sex
Offenders.
[26]
His appeal against sentence seems to be directed only at the sentence
of life imprisonment.
[27]
He was sentenced to life imprisonment because section 51(1) of the
Act, read with its Schedule 2 determines that anyone
convicted of the
rape of a child under the age of 16 years must be sentenced to life
imprisonment, unless there are substantial
and compelling
circumstances justifying otherwise.
The
law
[28]
Courts considering appeals against sentence must do so in terms of
the following general approach: ‘
[T]he
imposition of sentence is the prerogative of the trial court for good
reason and it is not for appellate courts to interfere
with that
exercise of discretion unless it is convincingly shown that it has
not been properly exercised’.
[29]
Interference
in the trial court’s exercise of its sentencing discretion is
warranted only where that court is found to have
materially
misdirected itself, or, failing that,
where
the trial court’s sentence diverges from the sentence which the
appellate court would have imposed had it been the trial
court to
such a degree that it may be described as ‘shocking’,
‘startling’ or ‘disturbingly inappropriate’
.
[30]
[29]
As mentioned above, in imposing sentence in this matter, because the
appellant stood convicted of the rape of a child
under 16 years of
age, the trial court was constrained in its sentencing discretion by
section 51(1) read with Schedule 2 of the
Act to impose life
imprisonment, unless there were substantial and compelling
circumstances justifying otherwise. This means that
our task as
appellate court is to consider whether the trial court either
materially misdirected itself in its conclusion that
there were no
substantial and compelling circumstances warranting departure from
the prescribed sentence of life imprisonment,
or that it was so wrong
in that conclusion that imposition of the minimum prescribed sentence
of life imprisonment was shocking,
startling or disturbingly
inappropriate.
[30]
In considering sentence in cases resorting under section 51(1) of the
Act, a trial court must use as point of departure
imposition of a
life sentence: it is settled that in such cases, life imprisonment is
the sentence that must
ordinarily
be imposed.
[31]
[31]
From that point of departure, courts must then consider whether there
are any reasons that rise to the level of substantial
and compelling
circumstances that justify imposition of a lesser sentence. The fact
that section 51(1) of the Act refers to ‘substantial’
and
‘compelling’ circumstances does not mean that the
ordinary factors that can play a role in a trial court’s
determination of sentence are excluded from this evaluation. When
determining sentence in section 51(1) cases, a trial court must,
while assuming that the prescribed minimum sentence applies, simply
consider, in the ordinary course of deciding whether the punishment
is proportionate to the crime, whether there are circumstances which
viewed cumulatively and in the context of the specific case
indicate
that imposition of the prescribed minimum sentence would amount to an
injustice. If so, then the minimum prescribed sentence
should be
departed from. The reasons for deciding so, although they need not be
extraordinary, may not be light or ‘flimsy’.
[32]
Discussion
[34]
The trial court properly considered any possible mitigating factors
against the impact that the rape plausibly had on
the complainant and
the interests of society to decide whether the sentence of life
imprisonment is proportionate, in these circumstances,
to the crime
of rape of the complainant as an eight-year-old child. In the process
it also considered and discarded those circumstances
that the
appellant specifically raised as substantial and compelling. It
concluded that the minimum prescribed sentence of life
imprisonment
was indeed proportionate to the crime committed by the appellant, and
accordingly appropriate.
[35]
With this conclusion I must agree, for two reasons. First, the trial
court’s understanding and application of section
51(1) of the
Act read with Schedule 2 in the exercise of its sentencing discretion
was correct. It used life imprisonment as point
of departure and then
considered whether this sentence was proportionate to the crime in
light of the circumstances of the case,
including those circumstances
specifically offered by the appellant as substantial and
compelling.
[33]
There is no
misdirection, material or otherwise concerning that.
[36]
Second, the trial court exercised its sentencing discretion properly
on the facts. For possible mitigation the trial
court considered the
following:
[34]
[36.1] The family
history of the appellant (stable and happy, despite the death of his
father when he was 14 years old).
[36.2] That at the
time of the rape the appellant was his family’s sole
breadwinner.
[36.3] Reports from
his family that he was a responsible and reserved person with respect
for children and elders, who often
assisted young men in the
community by teaching them electro-mechanical skills.
[36.4] That the
appellant maintained his innocence (here the trial court noted that
while the appellant was entitled to do
so despite conviction, it did
diminish his propensity for rehabilitation, as a prerequisite for
rehabilitation is acknowledgement
of the wrong committed).
[36.5] The fact
that the appellant was a first offender.
[37]
Against that, the trial court continued, must be considered the
following:
[35]
[37.1] The
inherent seriousness of the crime – not only rape, which is
already a scourge in our society but rape of
an eight-year-old child.
[37.2] The
prevalence of this crime in our society and the concomitant need to
protect against it and deter it.
[37.3] The
impact of the crime on society – in a community such as the
appellant’s and complainant’s where
circumstances dictate
that members must be able to trust fellow members to look after and
not harm their children, the appellant’s
breach of that trust
is particularly impactful.
[37.4] The
impact of the rape on the complainant – even in the absence of
a victim impact statement or report, the trial
court, correctly to my
mind assumes that both the physio- and psychological impact on the
child must be lasting and debilitating.
[38]
The trial court then concludes that a consideration of all these
factors together indicates nothing other than imposition
of a very
serious sanction, such as, indeed the life sentence it was required
to impose.
[36]
With this
conclusion I agree.
[39]
I also agree with the trial court’s rejection of those
circumstances raised on behalf of the appellant at trial
as
substantial and compelling and so justifying a lesser sentence than
life imprisonment: the fact that the appellant had been
incarcerated
for a substantial period of time prior to trial and that his mother
had passed away while he was in custody.
[37]
Both these factors seem at best only tangentially relevant to the
question whether to depart from the minimum prescribed sentence.
[40]
Counsel appearing for the appellant at the hearing of this appeal
raised in his heads of argument and before court the
following
circumstances as substantial and compelling such as, viewed
cumulatively, to justify departure from the prescribed minimum
sentence:
[40.1] The
appellant is a first offender.
[40.2] The
appellant spent three years in custody awaiting trial.
[40.3] The
complainant suffered no injuries other than to her genitalia.
[40.4] The
appellant’s age.
[40.5] The
possibility for the appellant to be rehabilitated.
[41]
I am not persuaded that, whether viewed cumulatively or in isolation,
these factors justify departure from the prescribed
minimum sentence.
Although it is so that a convicted person being a first offender is
often regarded as a mitigating factor indicating
a reduction in
sentence, it is important to consider the reason for that: that it
indicates smaller potential for repeat offending
and a better chance
at rehabilitation. This must be considered in the context of this
case – with the appellant currently
being over 50 years old the
importance of considering the possibility of repeat offending and the
propensity for rehabilitation
recede into the background somewhat
where even with a reduced sentence the appellant will be elderly when
he is released back into
society. Against this must also be
considered the fact that the appellant continues to maintain his
innocence, which, as the trial
court held, he is entitled to do, but
diminishes his prospects of rehabilitation.
[42]
It is unclear what the relevance is of the fact the appellant spent
three years in custody awaiting trial. These three
years could
perhaps be considered in deciding when the appellant would become
eligible for parole and in deciding whether to grant
him parole, but
they don’t seem relevant at the sentencing stage.
[43]
It is surprising that the appellant would raise the absence of
physical injury other than injury to the genitalia in
the context of
substantial and compelling circumstances justifying departure from
the prescribed minimum sentence. Section 51(3)(a)(A)
of the Act
clearly precludes reliance on precisely such absence of injury as
substantial and compelling circumstances.
[44]
While the appellant’s age is certainly potentially a mitigating
factor that would ordinarily indicate reduction
of sentence (it is so
that the appellant, with a sentence of life imprisonment may spend
the rest of his life in jail), on its
own it is not enough to justify
departure from the prescribed minimum sentence, particularly if one
has regard to the seriousness
of his offence.
[45]
The potential for rehabilitation is again, as with several of the
other factors, a factor that is often considered in
mitigation of
sentence. But the trial court already, as set out above, considered
its relevance and weight in the context of this
case and found it
wanting. The magistrate pointed out that the appellant maintaining
his innocence presents a serious obstacle
in the way of his potential
rehabilitation. To this I must add that the appellant’s age and
the fact that at best when again
he is released into society, he will
be elderly means that the importance of the potential for
rehabilitation recedes.
[46]
For all these reasons I conclude that I can find neither material
misdirection in the trial court’s imposition
of the minimum
prescribed sentence, nor that the sentence of life imprisonment
imposed diverges so from the sentence I would have
imposed that it is
shocking, startling or disturbingly inappropriate. Indeed, were I in
the shoes of the trial court I would have
imposed the same.
[47]
Accordingly, the appeal against sentence must also be dismissed.
Conclusion
[48]
In the circumstances, the following order is made:
1. The appeal both
against conviction and sentence, is dismissed.
JFD
Brand
Acting
Judge of the High Court
Gauteng
Division, Pretoria
I
agree
PD
Phahlane
Judge
of the High Court
Gauteng
Division, Pretoria
COUNSEL FOR THE
APPELLANT:
MB Kgagara
INSTRUCTED
BY:
Pretoria Justice Centre
COUNSEL FOR THE
RESPONDENT: C Pruis
INSTRUCTED
BY:
Director of Public Prosecutions
DATE OF THE
HEARING:
1 February 2024
DATE OF
JUDGMENT:
2 April 2024
[1]
While
a DNA sample was collected when the complainant was examined at a
local clinic after the rape, and was sent for analysis,
this sample
was then lost.
[2]
S v
Hadebe and others
1997
(2) SACR 641
(SCA) at 645e-f (per Marais JA).
[3]
Gqika
v S
(CA&R
112/2021) [2022] ZAECGHC 15 (1 March 2022).
[4]
A
M and Another v MEC for Health, Western Cape
(1258/2018)
[2020] ZASCA 89
;
2021 (3) SA 337
(SCA) (31 July 2020).
[5]
Schwikkard and Van der Merwe
Principles
of Evidence
(3
rd
ed 2012) at p 546.
[6]
Schwikkard and Van der Merwe (above) at p 546;
S
v Snyman
1968
(2) SA 582 (A) 585.
[7]
Mohale
v S
(A634/2017)
[2019] ZACC 376
(27 June 2019) at para [36].
[8]
R v
Mokoena
1956
(3) SA 81
(A) at 85H;
Sekoala
v The State
(579/2022)
[2024]
ZASCA 18
(21 February 2024).
[9]
S v
Webber
1971
(3) SA 754
(A) at 758.
[10]
S
v Sauls & others
1981
(3) SA 172
(A)
at 180E
–
F;
Sekoala
v The State
(579/2022)
[2024]
ZASCA 18
(21 February 2024).
[11]
See eg South African Law Commission Discussion Paper 102, Project
107,
Sexual
Offences: Process and Procedure
(2002)
para 31.
[12]
S
v V
2000
1 SACR 453
(SCA) at para [2].
[13]
S v
Chabalala
2003
SACR 134
SCA 140A-B. See also, concerning a single child
witness,
S
v Haupt
2018
(1) SACR 12
(GP) at para [25].
[14]
S
v Chabalala
(above)
at para [25].
[15]
(579/2022)
[2024] ZASCA 18
(21 February 2024)
.
[16]
See
also
Raleting
v S
(A69/2021)
[2021] ZAFSHC 198
(14 September 2021) at para [10] where Opperman J
emphasises that in cases relying on the singe testimony of a child
witness,
‘
[a]
court must articulate the warning of care and the need for caution
and with reference to the circumstances of the case’.
[17]
Judgment
(Conviction), Record at p 131.
[18]
Judgment
(Conviction), Record at p 132.
[19]
Judgment
(Conviction), Record at p 132.
[20]
Judgment
(Conviction), Record at p 133-134.
[21]
Judgment
(Conviction), Record at p 133.
[22]
Judgment
(Conviction), Record at p 132.
[23]
Judgment
(Conviction), Record at p 132.
[24]
Judgment (Conviction), Record at p 133.
[25]
See eg Record at p 7-8.
[26]
See eg Record at p 15.
[27]
Judgment
(Conviction), Record at p 132.
[28]
Judgment
(Conviction), Record at p 134.
[29]
S
v Malgas
117/2000)
[2001] ZASCA 30
;
[2001] 3 All SA 220
(A) at para
[13]
.
[30]
S
v Malgas
(above)
at para [12].
[31]
S
v Malgas
(above)
at para [8].
[32]
S
v Malgas
(above)
at para [25].
[33]
Judgment
(Sentence), Record at p 141-142 and 145-146.
[34]
Judgment
(Sentence), Record at p 142-143.
[35]
Judgment
(Sentence), Record at p 143-145.
[36]
Judgment
(Sentence), Record at p 145.
[37]
Judgment
(Sentence), Record at p 146.
sino noindex
make_database footer start
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