Isaac Andile Memese in court. (Photo: AfriForum/X)
After a grueling trial of almost five years, Celeste Gouws’s rapist was finally found guilty of the rape.
Isaac Andile Memese was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the KwaNojoli Magistrate’s Court in Somerset East in the Eastern Cape on Thursday, after he was found guilty on charges of rape and burglary.
But just like the trial that already started in July 2021, the final verdict was also grueling when Thursday’s proceedings lasted until dark.
Barry Bateman, spokesperson for AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, says Gouws and her friends, who have been by her side since the rape in 2017, were overwhelmed by emotion when magistrate Eric Mbiyo finally delivered his verdict.
Mbiyo found that Memese acted premeditated on the night in question in September 2017.
Isaac Andile Memese in court. (Photo: AfriForum/X)
Mbiyo found that Memese wanted to take advantage of a woman who was under the influence of alcohol and absolved Gouws, who was denounced by the defense as a liar during the trial, of all blame.
Mbiyo said that even if a victim has consumed alcohol, that does not excuse any man from abusing her.
Gouws was finally considered a credible witness and her testimony about what happened that night was accepted by the court.
Gouws was raped at her home on 2 September 2017.
Memese had drinks with Gouws and her friend on the night in question. Gouws called her friend to the house earlier that evening, because she suspected that Memese had made unwanted sexual advances.
The friend put Gouws to bed later that evening and left the property with Memese. However, Memese returned to the house a short time later.
Maroela Media previously reported that footage from the night in question shows Memese slipping back into the house minutes later and finally forcing Gouws into her bedroom.
In his ruling, Mbiyo said it was clear from the evidence that the rape was premeditated.
Adv. Gerrie Nel, head of AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, who prosecuted the case privately on behalf of Gouws, described the rape as humiliating and brutal.
Adv. Gerrie Nel in court. (Photo: AfriForum/X)
Nel said during arguments for an appropriate sentence that Memese had already planned the rape early that evening. He also pointed out that Memese broke into the house on his return, drew the curtains and took Gouws to a room to rape her.
Memese was eventually prosecuted privately, after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the Eastern Cape at the time refused to prosecute.
The case was finally referred to Afriforum’s private prosecution unit, after a lawyer in the town and a friend of Gouws received no response to inquiries as to why no criminal proceedings were brought against the accused.
Barry Bateman, spokesperson for the private prosecution unit, says the case is proof of the unit’s effectiveness in dealing with the failures in the criminal justice system.
“This is a significant victory, not only for AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, but also for rape victims who have been failed by the state. This whole process also demonstrates the secondary trauma that victims of crime have to endure.”
Bateman believes the police and the National Prosecution Unit have failed Gouws.
“When a prosecutor decided not to prosecute the case, he noted with insensitivity that Memese saw an opportunity – a woman under the influence of alcohol – and seized it. Without private prosecution, this rapist would have escaped accountability.”
The unit now plans to request a costs order against the NPA for almost five years of prosecution.
“When organizations like AfriForum intervene to do the state’s work, the state must bear the costs of the private prosecutor,” says Bateman.
Celeste Gouws talks to adv. Gerrie Nel. (Photo: AfriForum)