Hingis “stalker” to make Miami court appearance
The world number one tennis player, Switzerland's Martina Hingis, is on Monday making a different kind of US court appearance. Hingis is due to testify in the trial of Dubravko Rajcevic, who stands accused of stalking her.
Rajcevic, a 46-year-old Croat with an Australian passport, is charged with six counts of molestation and trespassing. He was arrested by police at the Key Biscayne tennis tournament in Florida last year, and has been in detention ever since.
At the opening session of the trial in Miami on Friday, he was described by a police officer as “not normal”.
However, Rajcevic’s defence counsel is calling for his acquittal, saying his client is guilty only of loving Hingis, and has done her no harm.
Hingis, who was bombarded with letters, faxes, flowers and presents from Rajcevic, says she lives in fear of her admirer. She was unwilling to appear at the trial and had to be forced to take the stand by judge Richard E Gerstein. At Monday’s session she will find herself just five metres away from the man she fears so much.
Hingis’s testimony is expected to carry much weight at the trial and could result in Rajcevic being locked away for up to six years.
Joining Hingis on the witness stand will be her manager, Mario Widmer, who passed Rajcevic’s love letters to the police.
Although dreading having to testify, Hingis has spoken of her hope that her ordeal will soon be over. “Then, hopefully, this case will be closed for good.”
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.