Ex-nightclub owner guilty of sexually assaulting girl
A FORMER Kimberley nightclub owner has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in 2008.
Eric van der Merwe, 52, the former owner of Yazoo (Upstairs at Eric’s), was found guilty on one charge of sexual assault in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Van der Merwe was facing two charges of sexual assault and one of indecent exposure, after it was alleged that he forced a 15-year-old girl to touch his penis and then ejaculated at his home in Kimberley and again allegedly forced the same girl to touch his penis in a vehicle on a dirt road near Jacobsdal.
During the third alleged incident, also involving the same girl, Van der Merwe allegedly exposed his penis at Yazoo, which he owned at the time. All three alleged incidents took place between August and November 2008.
Van der Merwe was yesterday found guilty on only one of the sexual assault charges, relating to the incident at his home, and was found not guilty on the second sexual assault charge and the indecent expo- sure charge.
Handing down her judgement in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court yesterday, magistrate Cordelia Kgopa said that while the State had proved beyond reasonable doubt Van der Merwe’s guilt on the first charge, the evidence with regards to the second and third charges were insufficient for a guilty verdict.
Kgopa said that the girl had decided to come forward with information relating to the alleged incidents only “much later” when she told her mother, as she “wanted to set the record straight” after Van der Merwe allegedly started “spreading rumours” about her.
With regard to the first charge of sexual assault, Kgopa said that she was unable to find fault with the evidence presented by the girl, or even her credibility, but that the same could not be said of Van der Merwe.
Kgopa said that he did not impress her as a witness and that he avoided or failed to answer questions.
Van der Merwe denied all three charges against him.
While the State argued that it had proved beyond reasonable doubt its case against Van der Merwe and submitted that he was guilty of all charges, Van der Merwe’s legal representative, Advocate Sakkie Nel, argued that the State’s version was “improbable and full of contradictions” and called for his client to be found not guilty on all three charges.
However, Kgopa yesterday found Van der Merwe guilty on one charge of sexual assault and not guilty on the second sexual assault charge, as well as the indecent exposure charge.
He is expected to be sentenced in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court next month, after a correctional supervision report has been handed in.