Johannes Kana, 21, has pleaded guilty to rape but not guilty to the murder of Bredasdorp teenager Anene Booysen.
|||Bredasdorp - A man appeared in the Bredasdorp Magistrate's Court on Monday morning in connection with the rape and murder of teenager Anene Booysen, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.
The charges were put to Johannes Kana, 21, and he pleaded guilty to rape and not guilty to murder, NPA Western Cape spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said.
“We rejected his guilty plea on the rape because our facts do not correspond. We do not dispute that he raped Anene Booysen, but he is not giving a full version of what transpired at the crime scene,” he said.
Maria Marshall, for the State, read out the charge sheet with the prosecution's version of events.
The State alleges Kana unlawfully and deliberately sexually penetrated Booysen with his penis or with another object not known to the State, between February 1 and 2 this year, near Kleinbegin, Bredasdorp.
It alleges that Kana then used his hand or another object to disembowel her, which resulted in her death at Tygerberg Hospital on Saturday, February 2.
The case was postponed until July 9 for provincial public prosecutions director Rodney de Kock to decide whether the trial should be held in the regional court or the Western Cape High Court.
Two weeks ago, the State dropped charges against Kana's co-accused, 22-year-old Jonathan Davids. At the time, Ntabazalila said an investigation had revealed there was insufficient evidence to secure a conviction.
“We understand the sense of shock and outrage that was induced by the incident. However, as the prosecution we can only prosecute successfully on sufficient evidence,” he said.
Before she died, Booysen said from her hospital bed that five or six men were involved in the attack.
She had also named “Zwai”, which was both the nickname of Davids and another man said to live in Zwelitsha.
Davids and Kana confirmed they were at the same pub that night. - Sapa