Home Affairs to revoke genital mutilating Danishman's citizenship

Source: ECNA, 05/10/2015

BLOEMFONTEIN - The Danish gun shop owner charged with sexual assault
and contravention of the Health Act after allegedly performing several
genital mutilation procedures on women over the past five years,
abandoned his bail application in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court
on Monday.


This comes as Home Affairs applied to have 58-year-old South African
citizenship revoked after it became apparent that he had convictions
pending against him in Denmark and Lesotho.


He had received a six-months-prison sentence in Denmark relating to
the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, while he had also
been released on bail pending a charge of assault in Lesotho.


"Under these circumstances, it doesn`t make sense to apply for bail,"
said his attorney, Adriaan Janse van Rensburg. Van Rensburg also
confirmed that all the charges currently levelled against his client
stemmed from complaints laid by his wife, and that police were still
searching for other victims.


He also divulged that two women had since pitched up at the man's
Bloemfontein gun shop, claiming that they had voluntarily undergone
the genital mutilation procedures at his hands, and that it had been
for cultural purposes.


Police investigators confirmed this, but said that the women still
needed to go for medical examinations to confirm their claims.


Protesters from the ANC Women`s League lined the courtroom this
morning, hurling insults at the Danish man each time the court
adjourned for a few minutes. "How could you have done such things?"
and "No bail for the butcher!" they shouted.


He tried to cover his face with a plastic bag when newspaper
photographers started taking pictures.


"We are here to support his 21 victims, whether they are dead or
alive", said Mapaseka Nkoane, the regional chairperson of the ANC
Women`s League in the Free State`s Motheo district. "We support his
wife who had exposed him, and we want to show that we are deeply
offended by what he did."


He was arrested on Thursday, September 17 in Bloemfontein after police
received information that he had photographs of the women whose
private parts he had removed.


When the Hawks raided his townhouse in one of Bloemfontein`s southern
suburbs, they discovered 21 packages with parts of female genitalia in
his freezer. They also found several photographs on his cell phone,
depicting his alleged victims and different stages of his
operations.


Police also confiscated scalpels and other medical equipment as well
as anaesthetics that were found in the townhouse.


Police believe he had been performing the operations since 2010. Most
of his victims are believed to be from Lesotho.


One of them is thought to be as young as seven or eight years
old.


His wife, also a Lesotho national, is believed to be one of his
victims. Police became aware of his activities after his wife reported
him at the Bloemfontein child and family care office.


She has since returned to Lesotho, leaving their two children, aged
two and five, behind. They are now in the care of officials of the
Department of Social Development.


Police have meanwhile established that he is being sought on different
charges in his home country. He reportedly fled Denmark to evade these
charges.


This morning the state amended the charges against him. He is now
charged with three counts of assault with the intent to do grievous
bodily harm, with an alternative charge of sexual assault in each
case. He is also charged with the possession and production of child
pornography, plus the removal of human tissue, in contravention of the
Health Act.


The Directorate of Public Prosecution indicated that it needed time in
order to have DNA samples examined by a forensic laboratory, which is
normally a time consuming process.


The case was postponed to 7 December for further investigation. The
accused remains in custody.
- Africa News Agency