{{Johannesburg }} – {The State on Wednesday called for the conviction of a “quick tempered” salesman on a charge of assaulting a black domestic worker.}
Andre van Deventer appeared in the Cape Town District Court before Magistrate Alta le Roux, who said she would deliver judgment on 28 November.
The case is a sequel to an incident in June last year in which Van Deventer allegedly grabbed domestic worker Nomasomi Gloria Kente during a heated argument.
Van Deventer has pleaded guilty to a charge of crimen injuria for calling her a “kaffir” during the argument. However, he denies assaulting her.
Kente was working for Mariechen Pienaar, Van Deventer’s girlfriend at the time.
Kente lived in, and the argument happened when she asked Van Deventer to look after Pienaar’s baby while Kente had a shower.
Recently the Cape Town Equality Court ruled that Van Deventer’s abusive language towards Kente amounted to hate speech.
Van Deventer ‘has a problem with aggression’
Equality Court Magistrate Jerome Koeries ordered him to pay Kente R50 000 as compensation and to apologise to her in writing.
At Wednesday’s proceedings prosecutor Andi Hess contended that Van Deventer’s version of the incident was “improbable”. She said there was evidence that Van Deventer was inclined towards aggression, especially if he had consumed liquor.
“The accused has a general problem with aggression,” she said.
Van Deventer had been evasive during cross-examination, and often tried to avoid questions that required a simple yes or no answer.
“He did not play open cards to the court,” she said.
Defence lawyer Henry van der Westhuizen contended the court had to accept his denial of the assault as “reasonably, possibly true”.
He said Van Deventer had admitted the abusive language towards Kente.
“Why would the accused tell the truth about his abusive language towards Kente but lie about the assault?”
He added the accused insulted her but did not assault her.
– SAPA
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