Rape cases cannot be withdrawn-Judge

Makhwade said that the applicant, Lazarus Itemogeng, who was convicted of raping a woman on July 8, 2008, had no reasonable prospects of success at appeal. Itemogeng and another accused person were sentenced to 10 years in prison by the magistrate court.

"The applicant's position is that the evidence by the complainant did not indicate that the applicant and the complainant were known to each other before the date of the commission of offence and therefore that there was no truth in saying the two were cousins," he said. The applicant's position was also that the complainant had wanted to drop charges of rape against him and that she was pregnant by the applicant.