Court frees man in murder that shocked SAfricans

May 21, 2013 @ 9:32 am

JOHANNESBURG (AP) - A magistrate drops charges against the boyfriend accused in the brutal gang-rape and killing of a teenager that shocked South Africans.

Prosecution spokesman Eric Ntabazalila says the magistrate said there was not enough evidence to try 22-year-old Jonathan Davids. A second suspect still could go to trial.

The 17-year-old victim lived long enough to identify Davids, a rejected boyfriend, among five or six men who attacked her in February in a Western Cape town.

Police said she was repeatedly raped by men who carved her body open from stomach to genitals.

Her death sparked national outrage and renewed attention to South Africa's shocking rate of sexual assaults and killings girls and women. Official statistics show that less than 10 percent of reported sexual crimes result in a successful prosecution.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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