It was the Christmas holiday, and a 13-year-old girl was visiting relatives in the Free State. But when her relatives left the home to buy alcohol, they later found her undressed, and with a man wearing just his trousers.
That man, Mtutuzeli Mvandaba, of Lingelhle, Cradock, was charged with rape. However, on Friday, he was acquitted in the Grahamstown High Court because the girl, who is mentally disabled, is unable to testify.
“Her mood and affect (emotions) are restricted in that there is a restriction in her feeling and tone[, said clinical psychologist Karen Andrews. "]In addition to the appearance of subnormal intelligence, her mental state is characterised by anhedonia – this means she is emotionally withdrawn and indifferent. She has very little interest in her surroundings, or life in general.” [News24]
Senior State advocate Nickie Turner told the judge that under the circumstances she regrettably had no option but to withdraw the charge.
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