|
Electronic copies
of this information may be obtained from our librarians at
help@lawlibrary.co.za or click
on the underlined hyperlink where relevant
Magistrates Courts
Alberton
Dirker
found not guilty - 24 June
The 39-year-old man re-charged with assaulting an elderly man in a
road rage incident was found not guilty by the Alberton Magistrate's
Court on Wednesday. Magistrate Joe Martini found Andre Dirker not
guilty because the State failed to prove that 82-year-old Joe
Duffy's severe facial injuries were a result of an assault and not
the impact of an accident. Dirker was initially fined R1 000 in the
matter in October 2008 after he pleaded guilty to assault with
intent to do grievous bodily harm. The State alleged that Dirker
beat Duffy with his fists after the old man rammed into the back of
his car on Swartkoppies Road on May 28, 2006. - IOL
website
Bela Bela
'Evil
supervisor poured boiling water over my body' - 12 June
A Limpopo woman who was allegedly burnt with boiling water by her
supervisor was dismissed from work, after she failed to report for
duty. The woman, Johanna Mashilo of Thabazimbi, suffered
third-degree burns on her neck and chest. The 20-year-old woman,
whose husband was also fired from the Matlakele Game Lodge,
allegedly had boiling water poured over her by her supervisor
Philemon Majila after an argument over her absence from work. "My
sin was to ask the foreman why he told my employer that I had been
absent from work", she said. Mashilo, who had worked at the
lodge for more than three years, said she was paid between R350 and
R600 a month. Bela Bela police spokesperson captain Johny Thiyo said
Majila appeared in the Bela Bela magistrate’s court on Monday and
was released on R200 bail. - Sowetan
website
Brakpan
Doctors
responsible for casino death - 14 June
Doctors who switched off the life-support machines of ex-provincial
rugby player, Andries Pieters, should be held responsible for his
death, defence lawyers said. The defence team of the four men
accused of murdering Pieters told the Brakpan Magistrate’s Court
on Friday they could not be charged with murder because their attack
on Pieters did not cause his death. "The doctors and the family
who decided a day later to switch off the machine, are the people
who caused the death and who should be considered the murderers of
Pieters. "At most my clients can be charged with assault with
the intention to cause serious damage," said advocate Zehir
Omar. - The
Times website
Cape Town
Travelgate
accused grilled by court - 1 June
A Cape Town regional magistrate put her foot down today when she was
told, on the day his trial was supposed to start, that travelgate MP
Nyami Booi had run out of money to pay his lawyers. The magistrate,
Michelle Adams, refused to allow attorney Mario Wilker to withdraw
from the case, granting him only a one-day postponement to prepare.
Booi, who first appeared in court in February 2005, faces a charge
of travel voucher fraud involving some R140 000. - The
Times website
Magistrate
censures Travelgate lawyer - 2 June
The attorney representing Travelgate MP Nyami Booi was threatened
with a contempt of court conviction today after he and Booi walked
out on the Cape Town regional magistrate dealing with the case. The
drama followed a bid by the attorney, Mario Wilker, for another
postponement of the trial, which was meant to start yesterday. He
told magistrate Michelle Adams he needed time to sit with Booi to
prepare an application for an urgent high court review of her
refusal to grant a longer postponement than the one day she allowed.
They also intended to appeal her refusal to allow him to withdraw
from the case because there were no funds to pay his fees. - The
Times website
Charges
against 'mutineers' dropped - 19 June
The State has withdrawn all charges against the ten Vietnamese
sailors who allegedly mutinied on a fishing vessel off the South
African coast last month. The sailors, who have appeared in court
several times since the incident, faced two provisional counts of
kidnapping. Prosecutor Greg Wolmarans told Cape Town magistrate Vusi
Mhlangu today that the regional office of the director of public
prosecutions had given "urgent consideration" to
representations by the men’s attorney Alan Goldberg. The office
had decided that given the personal circumstances of the accused and
the circumstances of the incident, it would
be in the interest of justice not to pursue criminal charges against
them. - The Times website
See
also : InfoUpdate
11 of 2009. Magistrates
Court. Cape Town. Mutiny
Johannesburg
School
assault boys in court - 5 June
A case against 12 Parktown Boys' High School pupils accused of
assaulting their junior school mates was postponed in the
Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Friday. Magistrate Helena
Prinsloo postponed the case to June 11 for a pre-trial report. The
report, to be compiled by social workers, will focus on the boys'
personal circumstances to evaluate their behaviour. The boys, aged
17, 18 and 19, are accused of assaulting fellow pupils during an
initiation ceremony earlier this year. Their appearance comes after
charged were laid by the mother of one of the boys allegedly
assaulted. Their case was heard in camera. - News24
website
Parktown
boys have their day in court - 6 June
Pene Kimber - the mother who laid the charge after her Grade 11 son
was initiated and then victimised - has indicated that she will be
at court next week when the 12 next appear. As a result of the
coverage, 12 boys from Parktown Boys' Druce Hall were subject to a
temporary expulsion from the hostel for the remainder of the first
term, as was one of the teachers, Bryan Hillock. The hostel head
boy, who was also the head boy of the school, was stripped of his
hostel responsibilities and office, and expelled from the hostel. In
March it emerged that he had been involved in another incident of
bullying. The Gauteng Department of Education vowed to investigate
both the cases. The charges the 12 face are serious. Attorney
Stephen Tuson from the Wits law Clinic, a specialist in criminal
law, said the boys could face three different charges. - IOL
website
Parktown
Boys - 9 June
The headmaster of Parktown Boys, and whoever is advising him, if
indeed there is somebody, has to get the prize for the most badly
handled situation of the year. You have a situation where
initiation gets out of hand . . . and instead of saying, "We
are so sorry, we will sort it out", the school takes the
approach that the person who has complained about their son being
assaulted is in fact persecuting them (although she is really up
against it) and tries to make them the villain of the peace. Such
a ridiculous approach is never going to work, and what amazes me, is
that with all that publicity they are getting on Radio 702 and in
The Star newspaper, that they continue to believe that attacking the
complainant is the correct approach. If ever a school is
in need of hiring some PR consultants, to urgently come and advise
them how to handle the situation properly, it is Parktown Boys. - Michael
de Broglio's Legal Blog
Parktown
Boy's High jinx - 11 June
Life must be tough for Pene Kimber, courageous mother who blew the
whistle on her son's brutal initiation ceremony at Parktown Boy's
High. Life is probably even tougher for her son who probably wishes
he could change his surname and re-emerge somewhere with a new
identity. Mrs Kimber has had to endure insults from other school
parents, hostile letters to the newspapers and a complete lack of
sympathy from her son's former headmaster who accuses her of having
a vendetta against the school. Despite all of this she has fought on
and deserves the support of decent people. The problem is that
little bullies grow up to be big bullies if they think they can get
away with it. You can find them in business and in politics and you
can bet your bottom dollar that the sort of people who enjoy
bullying their employees had their early training at school. -
Article by David Bullard on the Moneyweb
website
Judge
Motata did not have too much booze in his system : Court
- 25 June
Judge Nkola Motata was today acquitted of a charge of "driving
with an excessive amount of alcohol in his blood", but still
faces a drunken driving charge. "The accused has been
discharged of the alternative charge of driving with an excessive
amount of alcohol in his blood. All other counts stand",
Magistrate Desmond Nair said in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court.
He was delivering judgment on an application by Motata’s lawyers
for a discharge of all the charges against him. - Sowetan
website
Pietermaritzburg
Teen
in KZN murder trial remains in custody - 24 June
A 16-year-old girl, accused with four others of killing a
Pietermaritzburg man by slitting his throat, is to remain in custody
until July 2. On that day a Pietermaritzburg magistrate will decide
whether she will be released and whether on bail or in a guardian's
care. This was decided on Wednesday by Pietermaritzburg magistrate
Paul van Dongen. The girl's four co-accused, charged with the murder
on June 14 of Kishore Ramdayal and two attempted murders, - IOL
website
Pinetown
Lotter
trial : 'Money, sex and anger' - 22 June
Christelle Lotter, whose brother and sister are accused of murdering
their parents, has lodged a court bid to block their inheritance, a
report said today. In an affidavit before the Durban High Court,
Christelle says her siblings, together with their co-accused Mathew
Naidoo, were motivated by "money, sex and anger", the Mercury
newspaper reports. She says they are not entitled to one cent of
their parents' R2 million estate, even if they are acquitted.
Christelle has retained the services of top advocate Kemp J Kemp,
who successfully represented President Jacob Zuma. - The
Times website
Polokwane
Four
in dock for alleged government fraud - 22 June
Two government employees and two private company directors appeared
in the Polokwane Magistrate's Court on Monday for allegedly
defrauding the Limpopo Department of Justice, police said. Justice
employees Silas Setati and James Netshiozwi allegedly made
transactions to Ally Nobela and Khanyisa Shirindi, the director and
assistant director of KTKX technologies respectively, for work not
done. KTKX was allegedly awarded a tender by the justice department
to install software and cabling at various courts around Limpopo. - IOL
website
Pretoria
Court
red-cards hotel burglars - 25 June
The Pretoria Regional Court on Thursday made an example of the two
groundsmen, employed by the Mpumalanga Department of Water Affairs,
who broke into the hotel room of two Brazilian police officers.
Magistrate Solomon Mkhabele said South Africa could not afford
citizens who gave their country a bad reputation during major
international sporting events, be it the current Confederations Cup
or the upcoming 2010 World Cup. Sibusiso Mashaba and Faahiam Pillay,
both aged 21, were each sentenced to an effective three years in
jail. - IOL
website
Randburg
'Commissioner
Mphego charges a ploy' - 29 May
Charges brought against crime intelligence head Mulangi Mphego were
brought to "suffocate" his unit’s ongoing investigation
into the National Prosecuting Authority, the Randburg Magistrate’s
Court heard today. "Mr Mphego is engaged in investigations
against members of the [NPA] regarding abuse of office - espionage,
corruption, leaking of government information to newspapers, money
laundering, blackmailing," his lawyer, advocate Salie Joubert
told the court. "So these charges are intended to suffocate
this criminal intelligence investigation," he said. Joubert was
opposing a request by the State for yet another postponement for
further investigations. - The
Times website
Wynberg
Jo'burg
court lacks telephones - 18 June
Johannesburg’s Wynberg Magistrate's Court has had to strike
criminal matters, including murder, off the roll because their
telephones have not worked for months, Beeld reports. Magistrates
have also warned that more people could be freed if the court does
not receive the compacts discs it needs to make back-up recordings
of court proceedings. - The
Times website
|