The court has dismissed the application by the prosecution team to have the evidence of all witnesses in the rape trial of Archbishop Stephen Zondo held in camera.
However, the high court in Pretoria allowed the state to bring an application to have a witness testify in camera as and when it deemed so during trial.
Judge Papi Mosopa ordered that the faces and names of the witnesses not be revealed during the court proceedings. Mosopa allowed for the first state witness to testify in public but the rest of the witnesses will be decided on a case-by-case basis.Prosecutor Cornelia Harmzen told the court that her witnesses, who are rape victims, had expressed their fears of being shown on television while testifying about the details of the sexual violations they experienced.
“They will feel ashamed and intimidated to give details in an open court. My witnesses are not comfortable testifying in an open court giving details of what happened,” Harmzen said.
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