A grandson of former South African president Nelson Mandela has been charged with raping a 15-year-old girl and will remain in custody after a court on Friday adjourned a hearing on his bail plea until next week.
Magistrate Paul du Plessis of the Johannesburg Magistrates Court adjourned hearings to August 25 after earlier this morning allowing an adjournment until the afternoon so that legal counsel could prepare affidavits for submission to justify granting of bail.
In terms of <g data-gr-id="23">South</g> African law, Mandela’s 24-year-old grandson and the alleged victim cannot be named until he has pleaded on the charge.
The incident allegedly occurred in a toilet cubicle at a local restaurant on August 7.
After the adjournment, lawyers for the accused argued that the alleged victim’s Facebook profile indicated that she was 16 years old, rendering her above the legal age of consent.
They also said that the girl and her friends had got into the premises by claiming to the management that they were 18.
The magistrate refused to accept this, saying that only legal identification documents of the girl could be accepted as proof of her age.
He added specifically that a Facebook profile was unacceptable evidence of age.
As the girl in question is a minor, lawyers said even if the accused argued that the sex was consensual, he could still be charged for statutory rape because of this.