Accused pleads not guilty on charges of attempted murder and rape after ‘deliberately’ spreading HIV
The trial of the 45 year-old accused who is facing charges of attempted murder and rape after he allegedly infected the complainant with HIV, while knowing that he had the virus and withheld and denied this fact, commenced in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The accused pleaded not guilty on all charges and the State indicated that the minimum sentence of life imprisonment is applicable. AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit has a watching brief in this matter on behalf of the complainant, Lina Antoinette Ndishishi (32). Both the accused and the complainant were members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) when the alleged crimes were committed. The case will only resume on 14 June 2022 due to the availability of Magistrate F. Ntlati.
The Private Prosecution Unit became involved in this matter in 2018 and forced the SANDF to provide the accused’s medical records, which prove that he has since 2007 been aware of the fact that he is HIV-positive. This fact was also admitted in terms of section 212 B of the Criminal Procedure Act, 51 of 1977 by the defence in court yesterday. The SANDF’s refusal to provide these records, resulted in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) having to withdraw the case twice, which means that, without the Private Prosecution Unit’s persistent pressure on the SANDF, the docket would not have contained sufficient evidence to finally prosecute the accused.
“The Private Prosecution Unit is delighted that the prosecution could finally start yesterday, despite various delaying tactics employed by the defence in the past. This is a ground-breaking case in the fight against gender-based violence in a country where perpetrators all too often get away with abusing women and children. We have to commend the prosecutor in the case, Adv. Emile van der Merwe, for the manner in which he is approaching this case and we are confident that the complainant will finally get justice,” says Natasha Venter, Advisor at AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit.
Ndishishi, currently a sergeant in the Air Force, yesterday testified that she was HIV-negative before meeting the accused on 16 December 2016. As part of the SANDF’s standard procedure to determine medical fitness, she had to be tested for HIV in August 2016 and also tested for HIV on 1 December 2016 as part of the SANDF’s awareness campaign for World Aids Day – both of these results were negative.
Ndishishi and the accused were in a relationship from December 2016 until April 2017. She testified that he would remove the condom during sexual intercourse, despite the fact that they on those occasions agreed that they would only have intercourse if he wore a condom and he also on various occasions assured her that he was HIV-negative. Furthermore, Ndishishi testified that the accused also refused to go for an HIV-test with her and became angry if she would ask him about his HIV-status.
It later became known to Ndishishi that the accused was, at some point, in the same unit as her brother, Paulus Shongela Ndishishi, who died in a helicopter accident in the Kruger National Park in April 2013 while performing an anti-rhino poaching operation. The accused was also arrested in January 2017 for the possession of ammunition while he was part of the SANDF’s special forces.
