as far as i know the whole 4 witness thing is only for those who accuse a women of adultery, in arabian society and among Muslim women aswell, a women has a reputation in society and people try to ruin that image, so whenever they think a women committed intercourse to another man outside of marriage, they need to bring 4 other witnesses, this is a system placed to protect the image of women.
QUR'AN (…And those who calumniate chaste woman but bring not four witnesses — flog them eighty stripes and do not admit their evidence ever after.-(An-Nur 24:5)
Islam would not make such difficult laws for the believers, so many lies including the 4 witness story was passed around like fire,
there was one time when a women was raped at the time of our Prophet(swt) he never asked for four wtinesses
When a woman went out in the time of the Prophet (PBUH) for prayer, a man attacked her and overpowered [raped] her. She shouted and he went off, and when a man came by, she said: ‘That [man] did such and such to me.’ And when a company of the Emigrants came by, she said: ‘That man did such and such to me.’ They went and seized the man whom they thought had had intercourse with her and brought him to her. She said: ‘Yes, this is he.’ Then they brought him to the Apostle of Allah (SWT). When he [the Prophet (PBUH)] was about to pass sentence, the man who [actually] had assaulted her stood up and said: ‘Apostle of Allah, I am the man who did it to her.’ He [the Prophet (PBUH)] said to her: ‘Go away, for Allah (SWT) has forgiven you [for mistakenly identifying the wrong man].’ But he told the man some good words [Abu Dawud said: meaning the man who was accidentally seized], and of the man who had had intercourse with her, he said: ‘Stone him to death.’ He also said: ‘He has repented to such an extent that if the people of Medina had repented similarly, it would have been accepted from them.’
-4366, Sunan Abu-Dawud (a link to the full hadith)
hope that helps, again i tell others, my knowledge is limited and i myself have alot to learn on the Aqeedah of Islam and Islamic jurisprudence.
The only reason why four witnesses weren't required in the passage you cited is because the man confessed.
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