An Eastern Cape farmer accused of having drugged and raped six women has blamed his ex-wife for allegedly orchestrating the charges against him.
However, Makhanda high court judge Judith Roberson rejected Louis Lategan’s claims on Tuesday and questioned the credibility of his version.
The 42-year-old farmer from Xamdeboo (formerly Aberdeen) had alleged during his testimony that his ex-spouse, who had also testified earlier during the proceedings, had ganged up with six complainants against him.
He appeared in court on Tuesday ahead of the judgment set to be delivered soon on charges relating to raping and trafficking the women after he allegedly lured them to his farm for au pair work.
The alleged incidents reportedly occurred at his farm between 2020 and 2023
Lategan remains in custody.
He faces additional charges of assault, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and unlawful possession of more than 200 cartridges for a firearm.
Lategan has pleaded not guilty to the charges and claimed that the sex was consensual.
One of the alleged victims reportedly committed suicide while another, according to the indictment, fell pregnant.
After his divorce on October 6 2020, the state says, Lategan was to have contact with his two children, including having them visit for brief periods on the farm.
He was required, in terms of the divorce order, to have an au pair present for four months from the date of the divorce until January 31 2021 during the children’s visits.
Lategan lived alone after his ex-wife moved to Robert Sobukwe Town (formerly Graaff-Reinet).
At the beginning of 2020, before the divorce but after the separation, the state alleges, Lategan advertised on Facebook for an au pair to work on the farm and take care of his children when they came to visit.
He also later used an employment agency for the same purpose.
After the complainants accepted the job offers and during their employment tenure, the state alleges that he gave them drinks, suspected to be laced with a drug, which rendered them defenceless against his alleged sexual predations.
On Tuesday, Roberson said Lategan had testified in his defence that he had found that his ex-wife was in a WhatsApp group with some of the complainants.
Roberson said Lategan indicated that he had picked this up from one of complainants after her behaviour changed.
He allegedly later found communication between his ex-wife and the complainant.
Lategan had testified that he was in a love relationship with the complainant at the time but that she displayed “malicious” behaviour.
He suspected at the time that the complainant had been holding something against him and blamed his ex-wife for it.
Lategan alleged his ex-wife also tried to influence the police investigation.
But Roberson said an investigator had denied Lategan’s allegations that there was a plan to frame him and that his ex-wife was behind the current charges against him.
The allegation against his ex-wife was also cited in court papers.
“One has take note that the accused is of the opinion that his ex-wife conspired with the complainants to implicate him in the crimes he is charged with,” the court document reads.
Lategan also believed that the complainants could have influenced each other to lay criminal complaints against him.
He testified that he had consensual sexual relations with them during their employment and that he had fallen in love with some of them.
His sister testified that she knew one of the complainants and that she was “more than an au pair” and close to Lategan.
She did not see anything untoward in their relationship though Lategan was her employer.
She also testified that she went shopping with her when she had visited her home in Jeffreys Bay with Lategan.
Lategan’s younger sister, Reta, had testified that she knew some of the complainants.
One of them, she testified, took “great care” of Lategan and had returned to the farm after she briefly left.
She said the complainants never told her that Lategan had done something that they did not approve of.
Reta said she believed that Lategan was innocent.
Roberson said Lategan’s evidence was highly improbable, not credible, untrue, fabricated and bizarre at times.
She said there was no indication of a plot to implicate him and an investigating officer also testified that there was no collusion between complainants.
She said she found the similarities of the complainants’ versions were prominent, they corroborated and that they did not know each other before their employment.
The Herald