Rape accused Moses Gqesha claims he walked some 3km along the Gqeberha beachfront, following a woman who offered to pay him for sex.
This was his lurid response to the allegations that he assaulted and raped Gauteng businesswoman Andy Kawa when he took to the stand in the high court on Tuesday.
Kawa was raped in December 2010.
During cross-examination by the state, he also intimated that his DNA at the scene was proof that she had in fact solicited sex from him.
His version of events was in stark contrast to Kawa’s testimony that she was chased down on Kings Beach, assaulted, dragged to bushes among the nearby dunes, and raped repeatedly throughout the night.
Gqesha was arrested in June 2022 for stealing a lawnmower in Newton Park, and his DNA was linked to the samples taken from Kawa shortly after her rape.
Questioned by state advocate Ismat Cerfontein, Gqesha said he was working as a car guard in the Summerstrand area in 2010, earning as much as R700 a day.
While he could not remember the exact date, he said in December that year a woman parked her car at the Pollok Beach parking area, approached him, and asked if he was looking for work.
He responded by telling her that he was working as a car guard, but she told him she would pay him if he followed her.
Not knowing what the job entailed, he said he followed the unknown woman on foot along the beachfront, all the way to Kings Beach, about 3.5km from where they first met.
Gqesha said the woman told him nothing about the job, and only complained that “her husband was giving her trouble” and that she was “going to show him”.
This prompted Cerfontein to ask: “You expect this court to believe that a woman, who does not know you, asked you to accompany her, not knowing what you may do to her?
“You could have robbed her, raped her, or even murdered her, and yet she still asked you to go with her?”
He claimed that was indeed the case.
Asked then by judge Phillip Zilwa why he had never asked for more details about this supposed “work opportunity”, Gqesha said it did not occur to him at the time.
Gqesha further testified that upon reaching Kings Beach, his would-be employer led him to a remote location near the parking area and they approached several abandoned train carriages.
Among the carriages, he finally inquired as to the nature of this job.
That was when the woman, according to him, got undressed and said “this is the job”.
His explanation was accompanied by a demonstration of the woman’s alleged actions and surprised those present in court when he got out of the witness box and lay down on the courtroom floor.
Gqesha said it was only then that he realised he was being solicited for sex and he became “drunk” with excitement.
He said they then proceeded to have intercourse.
Afterwards, he said the woman took out her wallet and handed him R200.
He then cleaned himself with one of the two T-shirts he was wearing and discarded the piece of clothing at the scene.
Cerfontein then summarised Kawa’s testimony for the accused, telling him how she claimed to have been assaulted, held against her will, and raped several times before she was eventually able to find help from passing joggers the next morning.
She told the accused that his DNA was matched to Kawa’s case following his arrest for theft in 2022.
Gqesha did not dispute that his DNA was present at the scene, and while he claimed not to recognise Kawa, he said she could very well be the woman who had paid him to have sex with her at Kings Beach.
The trial continues. Gqesha remains in custody.
The Herald
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