Rights group rejects Hewitt report
A women’s rights group has rejected a news report claiming that Bob Hewitt’s accusers colluded with one another before his trial.
Women and Men Against Child Abuse claimed today that the report was part of a tactic by the former tennis star’s lawyers to discredit his victims.
The SABC reports it has documents showing that three of Hewitt’s accusers were in contact with one another before his trial.
Judge Bert Bam said during sentencing that there were similarities in their testimony.
The report was no longer available on the broadcaster’s website this morning.
“Hewitt has shown no remorse for his deeds and now clearly displays a total lack of any consideration for the victims,” the rights group said in a statement.
On May 18 the 75-year-old former Grand Slam champion was sentenced in effect to six years in jail for rape and sexual assault.
In March the Australian-born Hewitt was found guilty of raping Theresa "Twiggy" Tolken and Suellen Sheehan in the 1980s and of sexually assaulting a third woman, who may not be named, in the 1990s.
He was their tennis coach at the time. He was given leave to appeal his sentence, but not his conviction.
On August 31 the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed his application for leave to appeal, saying it had no prospect of success, a court official said.
The Boston Globe reported on Friday that Hewitt was ordered to pay $1.2m to Heather Crowe Connor, a woman from the US state of Massachusetts whom he allegedly sexually abused in the 1970s. He was her tennis coach.
Hewitt has until November 2 to show why he should not pay.
(File photo: AFP)