A former East London nurse details how she was sentenced to 15 years in prison, spending six of those years behind bars for a crime she did not commit.
In an interview with Eastern Cape-based publication, the Daily Dispatch, Nolitha Klass shares how she ended up in prison after a man that she knew tried to rape her at her home.
The man who allegedly tried to rape Nolitha was her boyfriend’s friend who they allowed into their home as he was no stranger to them.
Realising that Nolitha’s boyfriend was intoxicated, the man followed Nolitha who had changed from her work uniform to shorts and a vest and tried to force himself on her. Nolitha shares that she wrestled the man who was strangling her. This is when her boyfriend woke up from the noise and got into a fight with the friend who was the first to throw a punch.
Nolitha remembers screaming and calling for help, she then opened a case of attempted rape with the SAPS and was later told that he was arrested.
WATCH: Part one of Nolitha’s interview detailing the gruesome treatment by East London prison warders.
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In the middle of 2018, Nolitha was told that her case was thrown out of court after she couldn’t appear due to her depression state which was the result of the attempted rape ordeal. She later got a visit from the police stating that the man who nearly rape her had opened a case of assault, she later realised that the charge had changed from assault to robbery aggravating circumstances.
She was told that they robbed the guy of his R150 cellphone, a second cellphone worth R800 and R89.
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Nolitha shares that she stayed in prison for six years. Her 15-year prison sentence was handed down in 2018 with her later acquitted in 2024. She also details the atrocious conduct by some of the East London correctional service workers who physically assaulted them. A sobbing Nolitha shares that she was released from prison last week after judges realised that she was wrongfully convicted. Nolitha has not only lost six years of her life but, she lost her place, her valuables and now has to live with the ex-convict stigma.
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