The elderly man accused of sexually exploiting three girls is willing to sell his Richwood house to pay his legal fees, a court heard.
|||Cape Town - The 77-year-old man accused of sexually exploiting three girls is willing to sell his house in Richwood to pay his legal fees, the Goodwood Magistrate’s Court has heard.
Roger Haupt was to apply for bail on Tuesday but the hearing could not proceed because his lawyer, Frans van Zyl, withdrew. He said he was instructed by Haupt’s brother, who was in the UK, to withdraw and to advise him to apply for Legal Aid.
The court heard that the State was opposing Haupt’s release on bail.
He has been charged with 14 counts related to the sexual assault of two 14-year-old girls, a 15-year-old girl, and a 20-year-old woman over four years. The charges include rape, sexual assault, sexual exploitation of children, sexual grooming and exposure or display of pornography to children.
It is the State’s case that the girls were recruited from Dunoon and taken to Richwood where they were sexually abused. One of the girls was just 11 when she was recruited.
Haupt wanted a Legal Aid lawyer.
jade.otto@inl.co.za
Cape Argus