Former prosecutor Gerrie Nel is seeking to bring a private prosecution against a prominent person in the financial sector who allegedly raped his three-year-old granddaughter. Nel is now head of private prosecutions for AfriForum, which yesterday said it has applied for a nolle prosequi certificate from the NPA.

According to TimesLIVE, Nel said the alleged rape happened in the home of the victim's grandparents just over two years ago. He said the victim reported the rape to her mother and father, and a psychologist confirmed the sexual offences in a psycho-legal assessment. The child also identified her grandfather as a perpetrator to her teacher. 'When the applicant first approached us, we were astonished that the police did not obtain the statement from the independent witnesses, the school teacher and the psychologist,' Nel claimed.

'We wrote letters to police that statements from the teacher and the psychologist should be taken into account.' Nel said despite AfriForum asking for these statements to be procured, the police allegedly refused to take these statements.

He said the NPA allegedly took the decision not to prosecute without the statement of the teacher. 'We approached the teacher. We are in possession of her version as well as the version of the psychologist and headmistress, who was approached by the accused and father of the victim to dismiss the teacher,' said Nel.

He claimed the psychologist was threatened, and the victim was referred to another psychologist for another psycho-legal report. Nel said because of the second report, a rape case was opened against the mother, but the docket was closed after a month.

Full TimesLIVE report