The bail hearing for a City of Cape Town manager accused of child rape has been put on hold as Mitchells Plain Magistrates’ Court closed due to a Covid-19 infection.
Subcouncil 23 manager, Raphael Martin, 53, was due to make his third appearance on Thursday where his lawyers were expected to outline the basis of his bid for bail but the hearing was postponed when the court was closed for decontamination.
The former Umkhonto we Sizwe freedom fighter and popular community leader was arrested last month after a 13-year-old meisie came forward and told her family that he allegedly raped her for three years.
The teen told the Daily Voice that she was scared to come forward and hid it from her family as he was a well-known community leader in Mitchells Plain.
Her distraught family says they were left traumatised when doctors confirmed, after a medical examination, that the girl had also been sodomised during this time.
A week before he was arrested the teen says he visited her parents and while she dried the dishes in the kitchen he forced himself onto the girl while her parents were in the next room. The frightened teen says he pulled her to the ground and she had to stab him with a fork to get him off her.
While the City has confirmed that they have commenced suspension proceedings against Martin a formal disciplinary hearing still needs to be held after he was served with suspension papers while being remanded in custody at Pollsmoor Prison.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila says the hearing has been postponed to 17 August.