Breytenbach waits for judgment on request to drop some charges

Former media executive Willem Breytenbach appears in court.

• Ex-teacher and journalist Willem Breytenbach has to wait a month to know whether some charges against him will be dropped. 
• He argued that the dates of the alleged incidents are not specific, making it hard to plan a defence. 
• These charges emanated from a podcast, My Only Story. 

Judgment in ex-teacher and journalist Willem Breytenbach’s application to have some of the indecent assault charges against him dropped will be handed down in March. 

Breytenbach was arrested in December 2019 following a podcast, My Only Story, by Deon Wiggett. 

The National Prosecuting Authority says he faces 14 charges of either indecent assault or sexual assault, but he wants some of the charges dropped. 

It is understood that they are indecent assault charges. 

He faces 11 indecent assault charges, four sexual assault charges and one crimen injuria charge. 

READ | Accident at home delays Willem Breytenbach’s sexual assault case

Breytenbach has not pleaded yet, but News24 decided it would be in the public interest to identify him. He also previously worked for Media24.  

He feels that the State had failed to provide dates of the alleged incidents, despite repeated requests for further particulars, and this means he will have to get an alibi for every day of every year in the charges, to defend himself. 

When the podcast was originally released, he packed up and hastily left his business in Cape Town and his home, turning his back on a long career of being a school teacher, a journalist, and a mentor to young journalists.

Judgment on the request to drop some charges is expected to be handed down at the Cape Town Regional Court on 22 March.

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