'I did not commit these crimes'
File photo: INLSA File photo: INLSA
Cape Town - The man who was expected to be sentenced for kidnapping, robbing and raping five Khayelitsha pupils made an about-turn at the 11th hour and said he was innocent.
The youngest victim was 10 at the time of the incident in 2012. The victims were either on their way to or from school.
Judge André le Grange asked accused Aviwe Hoya whether he pleaded guilty freely and voluntarily when he signed the plea sentencing agreement, but then Hoya, 25, said: “I signed but I am innocent, I did not commit these crimes”.
This forced Judge Le Grange to ask Hoya’s defence counsel Wimpie Strauss to speak to him to ascertain what exactly his position was.
After a brief consultation, Strauss told Judge Le Grange that Hoya “intends to plead not guilty and the matter to go on trial”.
Strauss said: “Unfortunately I will have to withdraw and appoint someone else.”
State prosecutor Maria Marshall said: “I am surprised by the turn of events. He
has now changed his mind.”
This forced Judge Le Grange to postpone the matter until today for a pretrial conference, which will determine a date for a full trial where the five victims will give evidence.
The State alleges that Hoya ambushed the victims, threatened to stab them and forced them to walk with him before taking them to an open field at the back of the Esangweni High School. He would rape them in a portable toilet.
The offences occurred over a period of a year between September 2011 and August 2012.
The fifth victim was allegedly raped in Hoya’s friend’s house. She was also on her way to school when Hoya allegedly accosted her.
Before he changed his mind, Hoya was about to be sentenced to four life terms and an
additional 20 years direct imprisonment.
Hoya was employed at a company where wooden planks were stored, and earned R1800 a week. He grew up in the Eastern Cape. After his mother died in 2003 he lived with his grandmother.
When his grandmother died in 2006 he came to live in Cape Town. He has a previous robbery conviction.