Tennis legend Bob Hewitt. Photo: INLSA
Defamed tennis star Bob Hewitt has been called in to court in South Africa on charges of rape and indecent assault affecting women he coached when they were girls. He reigned as one of the greatest doubles players of all time, according to sources in South Africa.
Hewitt, 73, who last year was suspended indefinitely from the International Tennis Hall of Fame over the women’s reports of sexual abuse, is due to make a preliminary appearance at the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court August 16.
South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority has not identified the alleged victims, but at least two women who went public two years ago in a Globe investigation of Hewitt — Twiggy Tolken and Suellen Sheehan — reported they were abused in the Boksburg jurisdiction.
“The time has come for the law to take its course,” Tolken said Wednesday from New Zealand. “Let justice prevail.”
The Globe investigation uncovered allegations that Hewitt sexually abused underage girls he coached, from Greater Boston to South Africa from the 1970s to the early 1990s.
Six women publicly identified themselves as alleged victims, and numerous others who were cited as possible victims either declined to be interviewed or could not be reached.
“Overnight my life changed for the worse,” he told a South African magazine. “It’s been traumatic for us all,” he said, referring to his family. – The Boston Globe
