Professional Update
A
monthly newsletter for KZN Attorneys from the Kwazulu-Natal Law Society

10 July 2009

This professional service draws attention to current and important items of news
 and members are directed to the hosts' websites

InfoUpdate 14 of 2009
Recent Judgments

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

Carletonville

Rape ruling causes outrage - 6 July
A convicted rapist was given a four-year jail sentence because he was a "well-educated man" and the complainant a "grown-up woman" - but the National Assembly's justice committee is incensed by this ruling. It wants to investigate why Moagi Molefe, who is also facing charges of sexually assaulting 13 other women while out on bail pending an appeal, got this sentence instead of the prescribed life sentence. - IOL website

Mhala

'Assassin was promised R20 000' - 2 July
A bishop who allegedly hired an assassin to kill a rival bishop appeared in the Mhala Magistrate's Court in Limpopo on Thursday, police said. Jaftha Mabuza, 46, was arrested on Thursday morning after an assassin he allegedly hired to kill Bishop Daniel Mashele, reported him to the police, said Captain Leonard Hlathi. He had allegedly been jealous of Mashele who broke off from Mabuza's church to start his own because of bad blood between the two. - IOL website

Muizenberg

First meeting with dad ends in alleged rape - 6 July
A Muizenberg, Cape Town, man is facing incest charges after allegedly repeatedly raping his 18-year-old daughter, after she arrived from Germany to meet him for the first time. - IOL website

Cape man arrested for alleged incest - 5 July
A 53-year-old Muizenberg man will appear in the local magistrate's court in August for allegedly committing incest with his teenage daughter, according to Sunday's Rapport newspaper. His court appearance on August 7 would be his third. He had not been asked to plead yet and was out on R1 000 bail. He was required to report to the Muizenberg police station daily. - IOL website

Letter saves SA teen sex prisoner - 7 July
A German teenager was eventually rescued after her father took her to stay with friends. While there, she wrote a letter to the friends, a couple, telling them of her ordeal. They took her in and reported him to the police. The father is now facing charges of incest and rape. He was given bail and will appear in court on August 7. The girl is in protective custody and is expected to testify against him. It is understood he left the family before she was born and had no contact with them until she began researching his whereabouts on a family tree website. - IOL website

Pietermaritzburg

Top arrest in textbook scam - 2 July
The former chief financial officer for the treasury and Education Department in KwaZulu-Natal, Pamela Bosman-Zulu, yesterday joined Indiza Infrastructure Solutions boss Jabulani Mabaso in the dock in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate's Court in connection with charges of corruption, fraud and money laundering. The chief investigator in the case, Alan Nixon, did not oppose the bail application for Bosman-Zulu and said he is satisfied that she is not a flight risk. Bosman-Zulu is the ex-wife of Pietermaritzburg's former municipal manager, Thabane Zulu. Magistrate Divesh Mootheram granted her bail of R30 000 on various conditions, including that she surrender her passport. Mabaso and Bosman-Zulu are due to appear in court again on July 15. - Witness website

See also :
Man on R200m fraud charges stripped of assets - 11 June
IOL website
[InfoUpdate 12 of 2009]

Woman fined for illegal DVDs - 4 July
A Congolese woman was fined an effective R40 000 on Friday for being in possession of 1 400 illegal DVDs and computer equipment used for making DVD copies. Pendo Assumani admitted in the city's Magistrate's Court that she had copied the illegal DVDs, knowing that their copyright existed. She said she made the copies to sell, knowing it was illegal. Computer equipment found in her possession contained a plate of various DVDs with which she intended to make copies for sale. Her attorney, John Wills, said she was a first offender and asked that she be allowed to pay the fine at R1 000 per month. Magistrate Celumusa Ndwandwe agreed and imposed a fine of R60 000. An amount of R20 000 was conditionally suspended. - News24 website

Pretoria

Lovers in jail after wasting police time - 4 July
A Pretoria woman's secret affair has been exposed - but not before police mounted a considerable effort to locate her - while she was ensconced in her lover's flat. This after almost the entire policing staff at the Villieria police station tracked her down to the East Rand on Thursday night where she was found with her "skelmpie". As a result, both she and the man have been arrested for defeating the ends of justice. - IOL website

Wynberg

Court postpones 'Razor' trial - 9 July
The trial of the vicious Razor Gang was delayed on Wednesday because a defence lawyer arrived in court at midday - and might be reported to the Law Society of South Africa by the gang's victims. When lawyer Boitumelo Lesomo stepped into court, he claimed he had informed the prosecution that he was busy with a civil matter in Krugersdorp and would be late. The Razor gang is allegedly made up of five men who are facing two separate trials at the Wynberg Magistrate's Court. - IOL website

Razor Gang trial put on hold - 10 July
A rape survivor stood in the dock, ready to testify, when a late request for interpretation in an additional language halted the entire trial of the Razor Gang. After proceedings had been conducted in isiZulu for more than half the day, it emerged in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court on Thursday that one of the four accused, Fernando Hakamu, was Mozambican and that a Shangaan interpreter was required. - IOL website

InfoUpdate : an Information Service supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society