Motata witness allegedly threatened
Director of public prosecutions Charin de Beer will be called to court to discuss alleged threats made against a witness in Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata’s drunken-driving trial.
Magistrate Desmond Nair said on Monday in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court that metro police officer Paulinah Mashilela made allegations against the prosecution in an affidavit on the threats.
“The nature of the allegations as contained in the affidavit [is] that they are directed at the prosecution and not the accused or his legal team.”
Nair said he therefore “deemed it necessary” that De Beer come to court on Tuesday to discuss the allegations.
Mashilela told the court before she began her cross-examination that she had a complaint to make.
“I have a problem with testifying at this stage because I was threatened that I would lose my job, and I will spend many years in prison,” she said. “I was also informed that I am not fit to be a metro police officer.”
Mashilela said she had made an affidavit at a police station and reported the incident to her employer.
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Nair had a look at the affidavit, made some notes and then adjourned court to meet the defence and prosecution in chambers.
After the adjournment, defence advocate Danie Dorfling read out a media report by the South African about Mashilela telling the court about the threats.
Dorfling said it was important that the incident be placed in the correct context and not create “misimpressions”.
“It leaves the public to draw inferences,” he said as the story was written at a stage when the soure of the alleged threats was not yet public knowledge.
Nair told the court that during the adjournment two discussions about the incident were held with the state and defence about the matter.
He said the allegations were “a cause of concern to the court”. They affected the witness and “also may have [an] impact on the future of this matter”, he said.
He said that as time was of the essence in the case—since it was on January 6 2007 that Motata crashed his Jaguar into the perimeter wall of a Hurlingham, Johannesburg, property, allegedly while drunk—no one could anticipate such delays.—Sapa
