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Ntini goes to court to deny rape charge

Makhaya Ntini, recently included in South Africa's World Cup squad, went to magistrate's court in East London, South Africa, and denied charges of raping a 22-year-old woman last year.

The 21-year-old fast bowler admitted that he had given the woman a lift in his car, on a rainy day. En route, he detoured to the city's Buffalo Park cricket ground, and she waited in the car while he went to the ground to pay a colleague some money he owed.

The woman in the case has, however, alleged that Ntini raped her in one of the toilets in the stadium.

The prosecution has closed its case, the final argument dwelling extensively on discrepancies in Ntini's evidence unearthed during cross-examination.

The defence, which holds that the woman is fabricating the case, is expected to call a list of witnesses in its own turn.