Danish man in court after police allegedly find female genitalia in his freezer

A Danish national accused of assault for mutilating several women and keeping their removed clitorises in his freezer has appeared in a South African court to fight for bail.

Peter Frederiksen, a 63-year-old gun shop owner, was arrested in the central city of Bloemfontein in September after his wife told police that he assaulted her and mutilated her genitals.

When police searched Frederiksen's modest brick townhouse, they discovered more than 10 frozen pieces from at least seven female genitals, as well as pornographic photographs of children, investigators have said.

His diaries from 2004 recounting genital mutilation on women were also found, along with anaesthetic drugs, surgical equipment, and two pieces of dried female genitals hung on a hook.

Frederiksen's wife, Anna Matseliso Molise, 28, was set to be the state's key witness before she was gunned down last month outside her house in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, a two-hour drive from Bloemfontein.

Before her death, she told police she was drugged with laced champagne when she was mutilated.

Frederiksen, who has two children with Molise, sat alert in the dock at the Bloemfontein Magistrates' Court on Wednesday with his arms across his chest and his ankles bound by a chain.

Judge Marlene Marais ruled that, in terms of granting bail, Frederiksen's case came under the same category as murder and rape.

He faces a litany of charges, including three counts of assault, conspiracy to commit murder, possession, bigamy, and production and distribution of child pornography.

He also faces charges in connection with the illegal removal of human tissue.

Frederiksen, who has yet to enter a plea, declined to talk to the press, but his lawyer Luthando Tshangana said: "We are confident that he still has the possibility of getting bail".

No one has been arrested for the murder of Frederiksen's wife.