After being sentenced to an effective six years behind bars‚ former doubles tennis champion Bob Hewitt is still walking free.
Hewitt’s lawyers today asked for more time before bringing their application for leave to appeal because they did not have sufficient time to prepare.
Judge Bert Bam granted the postponement at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
Hewitt‚ 75‚ was sentenced on Monday but his bail of R10000 was extended until Tuesday for his lawyers to ask Bam for permission to appeal against Hewitt’s conviction and sentence.
New defence advocate Johann Engelbrecht‚ replacing advocate Terry Price‚ said that he had battled to get hold of all the court records timeously and was therefore not able to begin the appeal process.
The case was postponed to June 19 and Hewitt’s bail was extended.
Hewitt was convicted in March of raping two of his former tennis students‚ Twiggy Tolken‚ 47‚ and Suellen Sheehan‚ 45‚ and indecently assaulting a third woman‚ 37‚ who by order of the court cannot be named‚ when they were underage in the 1980s and 1990s.
The tennis champ was sentenced to eight years of jail time for each of the two rapes.
Two years of each of these sentences were suspended on the condition that he pays R100000 to be used in campaigns aimed at ending the abuse of women and children.
Hewitt was sentenced to two years in prison for indecent assault. The sentences will run concurrently.
After Hewitt was sentenced on Monday‚ the complainants and their supporters expressed disappointment that he was not locked up straight away.
“ disappointed that he didn’t go today … We are all disappointed it’s not over yet‚” Sheehan said on Monday.