Uyinene Mrwetyana’s killer Luyanda Botha’s court appearance on a previous attempted rape charge has devastated her family.
The former postal employee raped and killed the University of Cape Town student at a post office branch in Claremont, Cape Town, on August 24 2019.
Botha, who is serving a life sentence, was recently hauled before the Wynberg magistrate’s court to answer an attempted rape charge laid in 2014.
The alleged victim was a nursing student attending a college in Athlone.
According to the prosecution, Botha had visited the victim at the college and walked in on her bathing. He then attempted to rape the woman.
Botha was arrested, but the case was struck off the court roll. It has since been reinstated. The murderer has tried to poke holes in the state’s case and brought an application for it to be discharged. He even took the witness stand to bolster his argument.
But the court dismissed the application.
This week, Thobeka Msengana, spokesperson for the Uyinene Mrwetyana Foundation (UFM), told TimesLIVE the spotlight in the court case had shone on Botha and distressed the family.