Magistrate rejects guilty plea in rape case

Lebogang Mosikare | Wednesday August 6, 2014 17:09

 

The guilty plea of Peter Robert Raobe was not accepted because he contradicted himself during questioning by the magistrate. Contrary to what he had earlier told the court, Raobe said he had sex with the complainant because they were lovers and denied that he used a knife to subdue her.

On hearing this, the magistrate said the accused is now contradicting himself. “In my view I think he did not understand the facts. I will give him another chance to go and read the facts. I want him to go and read them thoroughly because I am going to examine him on what is contained in the facts,” Basupi said. The prosecutor Nancy Obonye-Ebineng then told the magistrate that the accused had told her that he does not know how to read and write because he had never being to school. Basupi asked an official from prisons to help Raobe with the facts because it is crucial that he understands them before the case can proceed.

The accused is due in court on Friday this week. In the first count, Raobe is alleged to have had unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman at Satellite Bars on May 2, 2009.

He is accused of using a knife to subdue the woman after luring her to the back of the bar. He forced the woman to go with him to his place where he raped her again. The following morning, the woman escaped and reported the matter to the police who arrested.

In the second count, Raobe is alleged to have raped the complainant again at Satelite on July 15 in 2009. He found the complainant at a drinking place and dragged her out, produced a knife to threaten those who tried to intervene and proceeded to rape her at an unspecified place.