A trial within a trial will be held to decide on the admissibility of certain evidence in the drunken-driving case of Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata.
”I’m of the view that the objection by the defence for the state to tender evidence in the manner it requests is to be sustainedt,” Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court magistrate Desmond Nair ruled on Thursday.
The evidence in question involved five video recordings — with sound but no picture — taken by state witness Richard Baird. Baird is the owner of the home Motata crashed his Jaguar into on January 6.
Nair said the court needed to establish if the evidence in question was ”real”.
”What about authenticity and originality in the 21st century?” asked the magistrate.
”Are risks not greater because of how technology has consumed us all?”
”If copies are capable of manipulation, should the defence be given the opportunity to test them before the court admits them?”
Nair said the process of how the recordings were made had to be tested for authenticity.
The recordings were originally made on a cellphone, then put on a memory card, downloaded on to a laptop, saved on to a memory stick and then saved on to another laptop, he said.
”I’m not entirely convinced that the issue of originality [of the recordings] does not play a part in admissibility,” said Nair.
He said the court should first determine if it was ”safe” for such evidence to be presented and then to deal with its authenticity.
Motata, dressed in his now-trademark navy blue pinstripe suit with an austere blue pocket square, was supported by his wife, Rami, and daughter.
Motata is facing charges of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs with an alternative charge of reckless or negligent driving and a charge of defeating the ends of justice with an alternative charge of resisting arrest.
The trial within a trial will begin on November 7. It was scheduled to continue until November 9 and then resume again from the 13 to the 15. — Sapa