The maternal grandmother of a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly repeatedly raped by a Heidelberg attorney, Carel Benjamin Schoeman, 35, knew about the allegation but did not report it to the police or social workers.
This was revealed by investigating officer Capt Veronica Banks during a cross-examination on Thursday at the Johannesburg high court sitting in Palm Ridge magistrate’s court.
“It came to light that the grandmother knew about the allegation and did not report to the police or any social worker.
“At that stage, while I was busy with my investigations — it did not seem as if the grandmother was taking the child’s safety into consideration,” she testified.
The 38-year-old mother who cannot be named to protect the identity of the children is accused of forcing her minor daughters into prostitution.
Her co-accused, Schoeman, is alleged to have “bought” the minor girl who was 13 years old at the time of the crimes.
Both the mother and Schoeman pleaded not guilty to several charges.
They are on trial facing several counts of human trafficking, rape, conspiracy to commit sexual acts, using children for or benefiting from child pornography, and selling child pornography, among other charges.
According to indictments, the mother, who is behind bars, allegedly forced her firstborn daughter to be raped daily by several men at various guest houses around Boksburg, Brakpan, Heidelberg, Springs, Villiers, Amanzimtoti and Ramsgate.
The mother is accused of advertising her daughter on internet sites such as Sex Trader and Red Velvet.
She is also accused of making bookings for her other daughter with unknown men in exchange for money. The girl was 11 or 12 at the time.
Under cross-examination by the mother’s lawyer, Harold Davids, about pointing out the guest houses without the grandmother, Banks testified that the victim was going under forensic assessment.
“My lord as I previously testified, the reason the grandmother or the mother was not taken along during the pointing out done by [name withheld] was due to the fact that the child was undergoing the forensic assessment and we had to make sure that there was no contamination of evidence or statement given.
“When I picked up the child from the children’s home where she was placed in for safety by the court, the social worker asked the victim if she felt comfortable coming with me, so yes, in the period that the child was in my care, I was like a guardian to her,” Banks testified.
Davids during the cross-examination put it to Banks that the child was staying with the grandmother for nearly two months when Schoeman dropped her there.
“[It is] irrelevant how long the child was there, at that stage it was to keep the child safe from any further harm and to keep her testimony uncontaminated,” Banks testified.
She testified that when the child was separated from her siblings it was not because she would be a bad influence on them but due to the fact that at that stage they knew she was a victim.
“It was due to the fact that at that stage we knew [name withheld] was a victim and we didn’t know if the other children were victims either,” she testified.
The matter was postponed to January 20 2025.
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