Durban — The Pinetown Magistrate’s Court has granted bail with conditions to a 38-year-old man accused of raping and impregnating his teenage daughter.
On Tuesday the man who will be turning 39 on Saturday had his bail application heard in court.
Earlier this month he had provided the court with an address but he found out in court that his family did not want him.
The court at the time heard that after convening the family were not willing to house him.
At the time this surfaced the man's defence counsel Cebo Buthelezi furnished the court with an alternative address.
The matter was adjourned for this address to be verified by the State and for the man's bail application to take place.
The State was opposed to the man being granted bail with concerns that he would interfere with the victim.
During his application on Tuesday, the man laid out his personal circumstances. In an affidavit, he said there were exceptional circumstances that permitted his release on bail.
Buthelezi said the man was self-employed as a builder and plumber and the income he made supported his two minor children and a girlfriend.
"My employment requires that I report for work every day otherwise I risk losing my clientele and job and that would leave my minor children destitute."
The man said he would not interfere with the complainant or conceal evidence, adding that he would abide by any bail conditions set by the court.
In granting the man R4 000 bail, magistrate Wendalynn Robinson said she understood the State's concerns but was satisfied that he had discharged the onus on him to prove exceptional circumstances permitting his release on bail.
She also granted bail as the State had not disproved or probed further into the man supporting his two children whom he lived with.
Robinson warned the man to relocate to his provided alternative address and “you are not to have contact direct or indirect with the complainant”.
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