Former tennis doubles champion Bob Hewitt has pleaded not guilty to the charges of rape and sexual assault by his former students during a trial in a court in the South Africa's capital.
One of Hewitt's alleged victims has told the High Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court yesterday how he allegedly abused her on a tennis training trip to Sun City.
Hewitt, 75, sat quietly in the dock alongside his wife Dellaile as the court heard Tolken.
The former tennis ace, who faces two counts of rape and one of sexual assault, had avoided trial due to ill health for almost two years since the charges first emerged.
One of the alleged victims, who travelled from New Zealand to testify in the case, said she was a promising tennis player at a school for girls in the city when she had six months coaching from Hewitt.
She alleged that Hewitt had taken her to a tournament at Sun City, but stopped enroute to make her perform sexual acts on him which continued in his room at the resort.
She said that when she told her parents about the incident, they filed a complaint against Hewitt in 1981, but did not pursue the matter because of several reasons. She also testified about three letters Hewitt wrote to her at the time.
A winner of 15 Grand slam doubles titles, Hewitt was indefinitely suspended from the International Tennis Hall of Fame in November 2012 after an independent investigation found that the charges against him were credible.
