The Action Society team supported 21 victims of sexual assault and rape and the families of two murder victims in court this week.
MURDERED: CLEO DIKO
(3 November 2023, Mitchell’s Plain Magistrates Court)
The Mithcell’s Plain Magistrates Court postponed the case against Sandile Jegwa, the 38-year-old man accused of murdering 34-year-old Cleo Diko, to 14 November 2023.
Cleo went missing in October last year. Her decomposed body was found with a rope around her neck, hidden under a bed, covered with cement and tiles in Mandalay, in Cape Town on 27 January 2023. Her identity had to be confirmed through DNA testing. During their search for her killer, police received information about a man seen with Cleo and they followed the leads closely to track him down. During that time, the police received a call from a woman who told them about blood-stained blankets and pillows she had come across while cleaning the separate entrance where her son stayed. Jegwa was arrested near a railway close to his home shortly after and charged with a schedule 6 offence.
RAPED: *ORCHID
(6 November 2023, Mitchell’s Plain Magistrates Court)
A teenage rape victim’s case had to be postponed to 29 November because the doctor who was due to testify, wasn’t present. Orchid* was raped last year. The accused is a teenage boy.
MURDERED: NOSIPHIWO JAMES
(7 November 2023, Khayelitsha Magistrates Court)
The bereaved family of Nosiphiwo James (29), was left frustrated after her murder case was postponed to 22 January next year.
Nosiphiwo, a mother of two young children, was stabbed to death by her boyfriend using a screwdriver in Khayelitsha on 8 May 2022, moments before a mass shooting broke out, killing six men. Police found her body amongst the six men, but it was clear that she wasn’t one of the shooting victims. Her boyfriend was nowhere to be found. He had assaulted her several times, and her family reported he was extremely jealous. Action Society’s private investigators worked closely with the local police, found the suspect in the Eastern Cape, and brought him back to Cape Town, where he was arrested.
RAPED, SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AND ROBBED: 19 EASTER SUNDAY CHURCHGOERS
(8 November 2023, Khayelitsha Magistrates Court)
The case against two men charged with three rapes, eight sexual assaults, housebreaking, intent to rob and robbery with aggravating circumstances involving 19 victims who were assaulted on Easter Sunday, was postponed to 4 December 2023 for their first appearance in the Khayelitsha regional court.
GANG-RAPED: *LILY
(8 November 2023, Parow Regional Court)
The case against four suspects accused of gang-raping Lily, a deaf 45-year-old from Bonteheuwel in Cape Town in December last year, was postponed to 4 December 2023 for further consultation by the defence.
Action Society along with Lily’s family and members of The Deaf Community of Cape Town have come together to ensure the availability of a sign language interpreter so that Lily could tell her story.
Names indicated with a * are used to protect the victim’s real identities.
