Knysna businessman Adrian Wilson-Forbes was acquitted on all 79 charges against him.
|||Cape Town - Knysna businessman Adrian Wilson-Forbes was acquitted on all 79 charges against him in the Western Cape High Court sitting in Thembalethu, outside George, on Friday.
The charges had included statutory rape, abduction, indecent assault, trafficking persons for sexual purposes, and making child pornography.
“It's been a very punishing and very gruelling time and I now have to try and rebuild my life,” Wilson-Forbes, 60, said when leaving court.
In her judgment, Judge Patricia Goliath slammed the primary witness's evidence describing Wilson-Forbes as a pimp, saying the primary witness and the accused had clearly defined roles in their relationship.
“The accused made use of the sexual services offered by the primary witness and the primary witness offered the sexual services. Both of them were untruthful,” Goliath said.
Now 23, the primary witness said that when he was 11-years-old he was abducted and sexually assaulted by Wilson-Forbes, who then allegedly asked him to procure young girls for sexual purposes. He claimed he did this on three occasions.
Photographic evidence submitted by the State showed Wilson-Forbes in a compromising position with an eight-year-old girl during an incident on March 29 last year.
Wilson-Forbes claimed he was set up by the primary witness, who held him at knife-point and took photographs of him and the girl under duress.
He denied all allegations of sexually assaulting the primary witness and two other witnesses during incidents that allegedly took place in 2001/2002.
Goliath said “the court remained in the dark” as to what had really happened during the incident in March last year and neither version was corroborated by the eight-year-old girl.
She said the State had to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“The version of the accused is improbable, but can the court find it is so improbable that it cannot be reasonably and possibly true? It would be improper for this court to reject the accused's version and convict him.”
With regard to the earlier incidents, Goliath said there was no conclusive evidence as to the ages of the alleged victims at the times the alleged incidents took place.
Adjourning the case, Goliath said the request for indemnity for the primary witness was refused. - Sapa