Stewart Hewitt, convicted of indecent assault, fired his lawyer moments before sentencing.
|||Stewart Hewitt, convicted of indecent assault, fired his lawyer on Friday, moments before he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by Durban Regional Court magistrate, Delia Turner.
In sentencing, which proceeded without Hewitt’s defence team – Advocate Gideon Scheltema SC and instructing attorney, Carl van der Merwe – Turner said it was most unfortunate that Hewitt’s legal team was fired.
She said the court had bent over backwards in this case and that Friday’s tactics were merely to delay sentencing.
Hewitt, a businessman and jet-ski champion, was convicted of indecent assault of his friend’s daughter in December last year.
Earlier in the trial, the complainant said Hewitt, a friend of the family for 29 years, had first indecently assaulted her when he picked her up from a rocking horse when she was eight.
He was babysitting at the time. She testified she had told her mother who, after speaking to Hewitt’s then-girlfriend, had dismissed her claims.
When the girl was 13 and her mother broached the subject again, she disclosed a series of assaults that had taken place over the years. The court heard the teen had also engaged in self-mutilation and had become withdrawn.
Hewitt was charged under the old Sexual Offences Act because that was the law applicable when the offences had been committed.
Had he been charged under new legislation, implemented in 2007, he would have been charged with rape.
At the start of court proceedings on Friday, Scheltema submitted an application for the sentencing to be postponed pending the Supreme Court of Appeal’s decision.
His submission was dismissed on the grounds that the issue of the irregularity had been dealt with by the high court which was satisfied with the regional court’s decision to use an intermediary.
Scheltema then asked for the matter to stand down to approach a high court judge to review Turner’s decision to continue with the sentence.
Turner denied this request.
Van der Merwe told the court his mandate had been terminated and he could no longer partake in the proceedings.
Scheltema and Van der Merwe packed their bags and walked out, leaving Hewitt to represent himself.
Turner informed Hewitt that sentencing would proceed. Hewitt said he was not qualified to conduct his own mitigation of sentencing and insisted on a lawyer.
Turner warned Hewitt that he was in abuse of the court.
“You had your lawyers here, but you fired them. You seem to be using every tactic under the sun to stop yourself from being sentenced. You can only push the court so far and you seem to be taking this very glibly,” she said.
Mitigation of sentencing proceeded with senior state prosecutor Nonhlanhla Dlamini calling the correctional supervision and probation officers to give evidence.
In her sentencing, Turner said this was a crime which raised fury and outrage in the hearts of people.
“The court feels that you are a threat to society and children because you have shown no remorse.”
After sentencing Hewitt, the State requested his name be added to the national register of sexual offenders.
A few hours after being sentenced, Hewitt called in the same lawyer he had fired just hours before to apply for a leave to appeal the conviction and sentence.
The application was granted as well as bail, pending appeal, to the amount of R150 000.
The mother of the complainant said she was satisfied with the outcome.
“He has been trying to buy time for the whole year, but justice was finally handed to him.”
The complainant said she was overjoyed, but not entirely happy that he was not in jail.
“It’s between him and the courts now. Whatever happens, God will take care of it. If there is a God out there, he will get what he deserves.”