THOHOYANDOU - A row has erupted following the withdrawal of the abduction case against a Black Leopards player, who is accused of abducting a 17 year-old girl.

The father of the girl, who was allegedly taken away to a sex orgy for the whole night by Black Leopards middle-fielder, Vusi Kharivhe (19), has vowed that he would go to the highest level to make sure that the abduction case he has opened against the player, would continue.

This follows the decision by the junior public prosecutor Avhurengwi Munyai of Thohoyandou Magistrate’s Court, to withdraw the case last Monday morning. It later emerged that the police officer who took the statement during the opening of the case at Kharivhe’s arrest, Insp Joas Mashudu Mulaudzi, did not include all the information given by the father. This caused Kharivhe to be released on his first appearance.

According to the father, his daughter went missing from his home at Tshitereke, on Saturday 17th at about 10:00 until the following day at about 11:00 “when we found her in a white BMW 3 series registration number KZN 710 GP with Kharivhe, Leopards PRO Tshifhiwa Thidiela, and an unknown guy who was driving. My wife and I had a very bad day and night on Saturday, as we did not know where our daughter was. We tried to phone her on her cellphone, only to find that it had been switched off.

He stated that with the assistance of other family members, they then contacted her friend, who used to study and sometimes stay with her. The friend then suggested that we should phone Vusi to find out if he was not with her. “We phoned Leopards’ MD, David Thidiela, who told us ‘that girl is a woman, you should not be worried,’ while refusing to give us Vusi’s cell number”.

According to him, his daughter finally phoned from Kharivhe’s cellphone, informing them that she was coming home. “While we were busy searching along the roads, we saw a white BMW parked alongside he road next to the robots in Sibasa. We then blocked the way of the car, and I took my daughter, while my brother, a member of the police arrested Kharivhe.”

The father also claimed that “Thidiela (David)” had phoned them requesting that they make an out of court settlement which he refused to do. “David phoned us several times requesting that we should make an out of court settlement. Kharivhe’s elder brother Sydney, with whom we were very close, phoned proposing the same deal.

According to him, while he was submitting a statement at the community service centre, formerly known as the charge office, Leopards Manager Aaron Thidiela came and requested to see Kharivhe and told him that he should not worry, as “this is a small case. We will deal with it. It won’t go anywhere.’

The father stated that he then told Insp Joas Mashudu Mulaudzi, who was taking the statement, that he would be accountable if anything happened to the case.

Mirror established on Thursday that the case had been withdrawn on Monday morning, when Kharivhe was appearing for a bail application.

It later emerged that the first statement taken by Insp Mulaudzi did not contain elements of the crime, which led to Avhurengwi Munyai, deciding not to prosecute.

Although the finger is pointing at Insp Mulaudzi for not including all the information he was given by the father, Mirror learnt that Munyai should not have withdrawn the case, but she should have postponed it, whilst releasing the suspect on R2 000 bail, as was recommended by the investigating officer, Insp Mmbangiseni Davhana, of the Child Protection Unit. It was also said that Munyai should have waited for Davhana to take another statement before she decided to withdraw the case.

Munyai could not comment, as she was said to be attending a workshop. The Control Prosecutor, Mr Rapea said he could not comment on the issue, as he had not seen the docket.

Police spokesperson Captain Ailwei Mushavhanamadi said it could happen that a police officer makes omissions when taking statements. Mushavhanamadi said, however, that a complainant should read the statement before signing it. “I cannot deny that there might be some omissions in the statement, but a police officer must agree with the complainant before they sign.”

Regarding the allegations that Mr Aaron Thidiela said he would deal with the case, Mushavhanamadi said that a person was not allowed to interfere with the process of opening a docket. He said that if a person was found doing it, he could be charged with defeating the ends of justice.

The girl allegedly confessed to her father that she went through a sex orgy for the whole night and asked for forgiveness, while begging her father to drop the charges against Kharivhe, “as he promised that he would marry her”.