A backlog in DNA testing is a key reason why a 25-year-old man - accused of raping and attacking a 10-year-old girl with a hammer - has been granted bail in the Kuils River magistrate's court.
The man was granted R1000 bail by magistrate Beatrice Vermeulen on Wednesday on the basis that medical, forensic and DNA reports for the case were still outstanding after five months.
Vermeulen had appeared upset earlier this month when State prosecutor Charlene Monis told her the DNA and medical reports were still outstanding.
The man faces charges of attempted murder and rape. He cannot be named as he has not yet pleaded.
Public hearings into gender equality and violence against women in parliament in August revealed that the State's laboratories in Cape Town and Pretoria were buckling under massive workloads, and that the DNA testing backlog for cases countrywide stood at 20 000.
A legal expert told one of the hearings that the sexual assault evidence collection kits, used to store DNA samples, take about 39 weeks to reach the examination table.
Staff shortages were mostly to blame.
In earlier evidence during the bail application hearing, the court heard that an intruder had entered the girl's home in Riverton Flats, Sarepta, on May 25, while she was alone.
She was attacked with a hammer and then raped in a bedroom.
The suspect was granted bail on Wednesday, but the court placed him under 24-hour house arrest and under correctional supervision.
His bail was paid by his sister's boyfriend.
Vermeulen ordered that the suspect's address be withheld from the public, that he may not contact State witnesses nor leave the house, not even for work.
The accused had tried for five months to get bail.
His attorney Fabian Human argued that his client was with a relative in Bellville paying accounts at the time of the attack and rape.
The Sarepta community had handed a signed petition to Monis against the man getting bail.
The courtroom was packed with Sarepta residents, who appeared calm as Vermeulen announced the R1000 bail for the man.
A crowd that had gathered outside court dispersed without incident - unlike at other hearings, where people held placard demonstrations.
The case was postponed to January.
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