Drop Charges, W. Mandela’s Lawyers Urge

Defense lawyers demanded today that kidnaping charges against Winnie Mandela be dropped because prosecutors failed to provide enough details to back up their case.

State prosecutors asked for and were given until Tuesday to react to defense requests to quash various assault and kidnap charges against Mandela and three co-defendants. Defense lawyers charged the state failed to meet its legal obligation to detail the charges.

A beaming Winnie Mandela shot her clenched fist into the air as she and her husband, African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, emerged from the courtroom. Supporters cheered and chanted her name.

State prosecutors allege four youths were taken to Mandela’s home and beaten in December, 1988. The youngest, 14-year-old Stompei Seipei, was killed.

The youths were abducted because they were accused of having sexual relations with a white Methodist minister, and Seipei was suspected of being a police spy, according to prosecution charges.

Jerry Richardson, head of Winnie Mandela’s disbanded bodyguard, the Mandela United Football Club, was convicted of murder in the case and is appealing a death sentence. A judge has ruled Winnie Mandela was present during the assault. She has said she is innocent.

Four former Mandela bodyguards who were co-defendants failed to appear for the trial today, and warrants were issued for their arrest.