A prosecutor charged with statutory rape has allegedly been in a relationship with a 15-year-old girl for four months.
|||A prosecutor facing a charge of statutory rape has allegedly been in a relationship with a 15-year-old girl for four months, the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court has heard.
A warrant for the arrest of Mongezi Putuma, 29, was issued and executed on Monday and he appeared in court on Tuesday.
Putuma was a municipal prosecutor at the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court and dealt with traffic offences.
He allegedly had sex with the girl this month, knowing she was under the legal age of 16, the charge sheet reads.
Prosecutor Hamley Marquard told magistrate Gerald Hattingh the State was not opposing bail. He said Putuma had not been convicted of an offence before and there were no other cases against him or warrants for his arrest.
Marquard said the State alleged that Putuma and the girl had been in a relationship for about four months.
He asked that the case be postponed for six months so DNA results could be analysed and the matter referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a decision.
Hattingh granted Putuma R1 000 bail and prohibited him from contacting the girl and three State witnesses for the duration of the trial.
Putuma is due back in court on August 31.
jade.witten@inl.co.za - Cape Argus