News of Thembinkosi Lorch’s guilty verdict for assaulting former girlfriend Fundiswa Mathithibala broke the internet on Tuesday, seeing Orlando Pirates releasing a statement on Wednesday noting the court’s decision on the soccer star’s fate.
Lorch will be sentenced by the Randburg magistrate’s court in June.
In a statement, Pirates said: “Orlando Pirates Football Club notes the decision handed down by the Randburg magistrate’s court regarding Mr Thembinkosi Lorch on Tuesday.
“As a club, we reiterate our stance against violence perpetrated against women and children, and as a result when this matter came to light in 2020, the club carried out its own investigation.
“Following our internal investigations, the club charged Mr Lorch with serious misconduct. He pleaded guilty to the charge and the club imposed a sanction of a monetary fine and ordered him to undergo anger management therapy.
“Mr Lorch also informed the club that he had instructed attorneys to assist him with the criminal charges against him and they intended to approach the director of public prosecutions [DPP] to make representations regarding the charges against him, so that he could go through a diversion programme.
“He further advised that he was attending therapy with Dr Nomsa Nkuna-Boikanyo as part of his rehabilitation. The club approved that he completes therapy with Dr Nkuna-Boikanyo instead of running a parallel process organised by the club.
“Mr Lorch informed us that he attended the anger management therapy and completed the prescribed number of sessions.
“Since then, Mr Lorch has not been involved in any similar incident or an incident involving violence. We are confident that the anger management therapy was an appropriate corrective measure.
“However, Mr Lorch’s representations to the DPP were not successful and the criminal proceedings continued.
“Today, 6 June 2023, Mr Lorch was found guilty of assault [gender-based violence] and will be sentenced in due course. We currently do not have the full details of the conviction and the sentencing date, and have requested Mr Lorch to provide these details.”
☠️ 𝗖𝗟𝗨𝗕 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧
🖥 Read the full Club Statement 👉🏿 https://t.co/oEbfIjh4pf
⚫️⚪️🔴⭐️#OrlandoPirates#OnceAlways pic.twitter.com/wPrfQaqGsC
— Orlando Pirates (@orlandopirates) June 7, 2023
Pirates said they will not make any further comment until the court process is complete. Lorch is due to be sentenced on July 23.
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