The 35-year-old man who is charged with abducting and raping a teenage girl after he lured her on Mxit is to be charged with another count of statutory rape in connection with a second teenage girl who has come forward since his arrest last week.

The man, who cannot be named until he pleads, appeared on Monday in the Durban Regional Court and was denied bail by Magistrate Fariedha Mohammed.

Mohammed said that he was a danger to society given that he was charged with assaulting young girls and that his seven previous convictions showed he had no respect for the law.

The man, testifying in support of his bail application, broke down in the box and apologised for what he had done.

He told the court the incident was a “horrible mistake” and that he was “sorry”.

Prosecutor Val Melis said the man, who was initially charged with two counts of rape and the abduction of the first girl, now faced a third charge of statutory rape of the second girl.

In his testimony, the man said he lived with his mother and that he was unemployed.

He said that he was going to plead not guilty to the charges against him.

“I was not aware that she (the first girl) was 14 when I picked her up.

“She looked older, at least 16 or 17. She told me that she wanted to run away and I offered to help her.”

He also claimed that he had been in a “kind of love” relationship with both teenage girls.

He added that he was not aware of the massive search which was launched for the missing teenager.

“I actually wanted to get her home because I knew that her parents would be worried.

“If I had known what was happening, I would have returned her, trust me. But I did not know what to do – I panicked. I did love her. I am sorry – it was a big mistake.”

He admitted he had lied to the girl about his age when they had chatted on social networking site Mxit.

Melis told the man that he had said he was 19 because he knew that the teenager would not have been interested in speaking to him if she had known his real age.

The man replied: “That could be right.”

Melis also told that the court that the girl would testify that the man had taken away her Sim card and locked her in the house when he was away.

The man denied this and said the girl had his keys to the house and had flushed her Sim card down the toilet.

The case was adjourned to July 13. – The Mercury