Speaking outside the court, because proceedings were closed due to the appearance of minors, attorney William Karan told the media he had been released because of a lack of evidence.

Two others -- an 18 and 19-year-old -- were released on R1500 bail.

Two of the men accused of raping a mentally ill girl were released on bail by the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, their lawyer said.

The matter had been postponed to September 6.

Seven people, including four minors, were arrested in Dobsonville, Soweto on April 17, after they were matched to descriptions of people seen in a cellphone video recording of a gang rape.

The video of the 17-year-old mentally ill girl being raped went "viral" on the internet on April 18, and was one of the main topics trending on social networking site Twitter.

Two of the minors also implicated in the case appeared with the three adults.

A third minor was not present in court because he was writing his Grade 12 mid-term exams. His probation officer confirmed this to the court, said Karan.

Three of the minors are 16-years-old. The third is 17.

A 13-year-old was appearing in a separate court room.

He was undergoing psychiatric evaluation to determine his criminal capacity.

Karan said the evaluation had commenced but would take another month before it was concluded.

Comments

• Sign in or sign up to comment

Thu Jun 20 07:31:46 SAST 2013 ::

Jun 20, 2012

lindsay

they deserve dea th penalty maarn
Report Abuse

Jun 20, 2012

somaartakeit

so what was the point of arresting them in the first place? or was that another gov knee jerk reaction or was that to calm down the public that was rightly so outraged by this ghastly act? the anc is a gov of lawless s@vages who are ravaging our souls.
Report Abuse

Jun 20, 2012

1andonlybucs

why grant them bail when they raped.... i will repeat ..DEATH PENALTY
Report Abuse

Jun 20, 2012

beautiful4

yes death penalty will do!!!!
Report Abuse

Jun 20, 2012

Arbitration

@somaartakeit

That is so typical of you, reeling in the anc and putting the blame on them for the social ills created by people.
they got bail bcoz you cannot detain someone based on pictorial evidence, more especially since the accused have pleaded not-guilty. They too deserve to have their case heard in court, upon which, we hope, justice will prevail....granting them bail is the democratic thing to do


Report Abuse

Jun 20, 2012

Stumaeza

how can they say lack of evidence while they have a video and why grant animals bail...they can't live with people.

DEATH PENALTY LIKE OTHER COUNTRIES
Report Abuse

Jun 20, 2012

kolobe

why is sowetan not saying anything about what was said by lamola and malema yesterday when every website is running with the stories?
Report Abuse

Jun 20, 2012

MommaC

Oh for goodness sakes.
How many of these rapists are out on bail and terrorising women? These bloody judges are clueless. As much as I hope none of them (or their families) are ever targeted by a rapist, I'm afraid that they will continue to see this as a minor offence until it happens to one of them
Report Abuse

Jun 20, 2012

mtringo

they dont think maan they can buy this thing if they are that desperate. why should they resort to rape in the first place this just makes me sick you know
Report Abuse

Jun 20, 2012

Stumaeza

Yeah some men are cruel & they dnt deserve to be called men...if you can't get it da right way, it's better to buy it!
Report Abuse

Read all 15 comments