On Friday, 7 July, the Orkney Magistrates Court's gallery was fully packed as usual by the community members as it was the court appearance of the pastor, prophet and Matlosana Local Municipality ward councilor Tebogo Sepale (43).
It was supposed to be a formal bail application for moruti wa mapona, but he decided to abandon it. Speaking to Daily Sun, his attorney Kobus Burger said: "After a consultation with my client, we decided not to bring an application but to abandon an application of bail. We can possibly bring it at a later stage."
Burger said he couldn't divulge reasons as it was between him and his client. Then the court decided to defer the matter to 24 August for further investigation. The accused has still not been asked to plead since his first court appearance.
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Sepale is still facing 11 provisional charges, two for statutory rape, three for the violation of a child with consent, one for manufacturing pornographic material, four for rape and one for sexual intimidation.
His court appearance emanates from a report by the police indicating that the Klerksdorp Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Unit was investigating a case of crimen injuria and two separate counts of statutory rape after they were reported at Kanana Police Station near Orkney, respectively.
The court said in one of the cases, the suspect allegedly shared a nude picture of his private parts with the complainant. In the second and separate case, but involving the same suspect, two counts of statutory rape were laid earlier on by the parents of two boys aged 15 and 17. Investigations are still underway to gather more evidence against the suspect.
The public is urged by the police to refrain from circulating sexual content of any form through all mediums as it may compromise the victims and their families, as well as the investigations into the matter.
