09/02/2004 14:30 - (SA)

Pretoria - Two very different worlds collided briefly in the Pretoria High Court on Monday when some of the accused in the Boeremag treason trial came to hear a transvestite testify on his alleged rape in prison.

Two of the Boeremag accused and the wife of another were seen briefly in the eighth-floor courtroom where the Jali Commission of Inquiry is holding its public hearings.

It was later established that the Boeremag trial adjourned at 11:0 for about three hours, leaving the accused with some time to kill.

The three looked rather out of place among a colourful group of cross-dressers, some with long, red finger nails, gathered in the courtroom.

Cross-examination continued before the Jali Commission on Monday of Louis Karp, who dresses like a woman and prefers to be called Louisa.

He was dressed on Monday in jeans, high heels, a yellow T-shirt, a golden belt - all rounded off with a delicate neck scarf.

Karp claims to have been raped and abused while awaiting trail for car theft in the Pretoria local prison in 2001 and 2002.

Prison chief denies fabricating evidence

In the morning, prison head Nico Baloyi denied having colluded to fabricate evidence to discredit Karp as a witness.

"I wish to state on record that I am being wrongly accused," Baloyi told commission chair Thabane Jali, and pledged his full co-operation with the probe.

Last week, evidence leader Graham Barlow told the commission that Baloyi had been implicated in an alleged attempt to fabricate evidence.

Baloyi on Monday also denied that he ever swore at Karp or that he was prejudiced against gay people.

"I have no problems regarding gay people. I treat all prisoners equally," he said.

Baloyi dismissed Karp's claims that he had locked him up in isolation as a punishment for complaining against warders.

He had put Karp in a single cell the first time for escaping from prison and the second time for attempting to do so again, the prison head said.

The third time he placed Karp in isolation to protect him from a fellow prisoner Karp had accused of raping him, Baloyi said.