The Anglican Church of Southern Africa has found Reverend Melvin Booysen not guilty of sexual assault.
The disciplinary tribunal of the Anglican Diocese of Cape Town held hearings into charges including sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexual immorality against Booysen.
In January 2016, Reverend June Dolley-Major laid a charge of attempted rape at the Bellville police station against Booysen, who she said sexually assaulted her in Grahamstown in 2002.
In the judgment, the President of the Tribunal, Bishop Peter Lee, said Dolley-Major’s statements which she made since she laid the charges were not consistent.
Lee also stated that the evidence of charges against Booysen is weak because they were only laid 14 years after the alleged event occurred.
“This tribunal unanimously finds Reverend Melvin Booysen not guilty of sexually assaulting June Major in Grahamstown in 2002. There is no evidence of the complainant laying allegations or informing her bishop prior to 2016, and no corroboration of them. We do not find her account consistent with a series of circumstantial factors in the story,” says Lee.
