Cellphone recordings discussed at Motata trial

The state would try to admit cellphone audio and video recordings in the drunk-driving trial of Pretoria High Court judge Nkola Motata being heard in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

The recordings were made by Richard James Baird, into whose wall Motata allegedly crashed in Hurlingham, Johannesburg, on January 6.

Baird apparently recorded the judge using his cellphone and then copied the files onto a computer. The files were then copied to a memory stick and downloaded onto his attorney’s computer.

The files were then placed on a CD which was given to prosecutor Zaais van Zyl.

Baird told the court that the copy was made by his attorney in his presence. He said the cellphone he used was now broken.

The court adjourned again for another 10 minutes, barely half an hour after the previous adjournment, during which equipment to show the contents of the CD was set up.

Before the adjournment the state had indicated that its intention was firstly to allow Baird to confirm that the CD was the one that he had given Van Zyl, and then to show the contents of the CD.

The judge is facing a charge of driving under the influence of liquor or drugs with an alternative count of reckless and negligent driving and a charge of defeating the ends of justice with an alternative charge of resisting arrest.

He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Earlier the court ruled that a copy of handwritten personal details Motata provided after the accident was not admissible and that the original should be found. - Sapa