Alleged genital mutilator kept panties, pubic hair

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Johannesburg - Police found an assortment of mementos, including women’s underwear and strands of hair, kept by accused genital mutilator Peter Frederiksen, when they searched his Bloemfontein house in 2015, the Free State High Court heard on Monday. Lead investigator Warrant Officer Lynda Steyn, who took the witness stand for the second time on Monday after initially testifying during a trial-within-a-trial in Frederiksen’s case, told the court they went through his bedroom, where they seized cameras, photographs, some female panties and strands of pubic hair kept in several packages. In the spare room, they found wine bottle corks with dates and names of people believed to be victims of alleged genital mutilation. Other names and dates were also attached to champagne corks, which were presented in court as exhibits. The court has ordered that names of the alleged victims should not be published.

“The pubic hair bags were found in different places in the bedroom,” said Steyn, who is attached to the police priority crime investigating unit, the Hawks.

“We also found bandages, numerous medical instruments, medical equipment and rings we believe were used for the piercing (of private parts), and there was also a vibrator,” added Steyn, in her evidence-in-chief, led by State prosecutor advocate Amanda Bester.

Steyn said more female panties were found in a safe in the bedroom where firearms were stored after one of Frederiksen’s former employees stumbled upon them. The former employee has been lined up as a State witness.

Defence lawyer Marius Bruwer then asked Steyn if any complainants had come forward claiming they had been sexually violated by Frederiksen when he severed their genitals.

“The people we approached were too scared. They did not want to testify,” she responded.

To which Bruwer responded: “It is our instruction from the accused that all circumcisions were consensual”

Steyn disagreed: “Tshidi said she didn’t consent to it the accused bragged that he had connections at Bainsvlei police station.”

Taking the witness stand earlier, Thuthuzela Care Centre forensic nurse Sister Mokoena confirmed the cutting of the clitoris of Frederiksen’s late wife, Anna Matseliso Molise.

Dr JM Kotze, who examined a minor who reported being sexually abused by Frederiksen, confirmed there could have been attempted penetration as the hymen was thinner than normal.

Frederiksen was arrested on September 17, 2015 after the Hawks searched his house following a tip-off from Molise and found a plastic bag in a locked deep freezer containing 21 clitorises packed in small plastic bags.

He is facing a total of 58 charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, several counts of illegally removing human tissue, removing human tissue in an unauthorised place, rape, and the conveyance and possession of unregistered medicine after he was found with several bottles of Xylocain, a local anaesthetic, in an injectable form not available in South Africa. He is also charged with illegally dealing in firearms.

The Star