Convicted rapist and former doubles tennis champion Bob Hewitt is expected to apply for bail on Monday as he prepares to take his case to the Constitutional Court.
Hewitt’s advocate‚ Johann Engelbrecht‚ confirmed that the bail application is due to be heard at the Johannesburg High Court on Monday morning.
Hewitt wants his bail to be extended as he asks the Constitutional Court for permission to appeal his conviction and sentence‚ Engelbrecht said.
Advocacy group Women and Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA) said its members would gather outside the court to oppose the application.
“The state has been far too lenient in granting Hewitt bail after he was found guilty of raping minors – he has been out on bail for more than a year while waiting the decision of the Supreme Court to dismiss his application to appeal his sentence‚” WMACA spokesperson Vincentia Dlamini-Ngobese said.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) earlier this month dismissed Hewitt’s appeal of his six-year prison sentence‚ saying the 76-year-old had abused his authority when he raped two of his minor tennis students in the 1980s and sexually assaulted another in the 1990s.
“The appellant‚ ironically a father of a young girls himself at the material time‚ exploited the complainants’ innocence and youth and forced them to submit to his wicked desires.
“He abused his position of authority and responsibility towards them and also abused the trust that their parents had placed in him when they were young children in his care‚” the SCA said.
Hewitt was convicted in March last year and sentenced to an effective six-years behind bars. He was also ordered to pay R100 000 to the justice department to support anti-abuse initiatives.
He has been out on bail of R10 000. – Tiso Black Star Group Digital
Hewitt wants bail extended as he prepares Constitutional Court appeal
Hewitt’s advocate‚ Johann Engelbrecht‚ confirmed that the bail application is due to be heard at the Johannesburg High Court on Monday morning.
Hewitt wants his bail to be extended as he asks the Constitutional Court for permission to appeal his conviction and sentence‚ Engelbrecht said.
Advocacy group Women and Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA) said its members would gather outside the court to oppose the application.
“The state has been far too lenient in granting Hewitt bail after he was found guilty of raping minors – he has been out on bail for more than a year while waiting the decision of the Supreme Court to dismiss his application to appeal his sentence‚” WMACA spokesperson Vincentia Dlamini-Ngobese said.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) earlier this month dismissed Hewitt’s appeal of his six-year prison sentence‚ saying the 76-year-old had abused his authority when he raped two of his minor tennis students in the 1980s and sexually assaulted another in the 1990s.
“The appellant‚ ironically a father of a young girls himself at the material time‚ exploited the complainants’ innocence and youth and forced them to submit to his wicked desires.
“He abused his position of authority and responsibility towards them and also abused the trust that their parents had placed in him when they were young children in his care‚” the SCA said.
Hewitt was convicted in March last year and sentenced to an effective six-years behind bars. He was also ordered to pay R100 000 to the justice department to support anti-abuse initiatives.
He has been out on bail of R10 000. – Tiso Black Star Group Digital
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