Power failure halts Jeppestown judgement

Court 4D of the Johannesburg High Court had to be cleared and the Jeppestown shootout judgement halted following a power failure on Monday.

Power went off at 2.30pm, 30 minutes after Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng had resumed his judgement following a lunch break.

Mokgoatlheng was busy reading through the notes taken when the 41 witnesses in the trial were testifying.

Having gone through testimonies of seven of the witnesses, he said they had all been reliable, credible and impressive.

He was busy going through testimony of the eighth witness when the power went off.

Police had to act swiftly to clear the courts and a torch was used to lead the 12 men and one woman, accused of murder, robbery and possession of unlicensed firearms, to their holding cell.

The 13 were arrested in 2006 following the June 25 shootout with police in Jeppestown.

The bloody gun battle followed a robbery at a Pick n Pay supermarket in Honeydew.

Twelve people, including four police officers, were killed in the shootout.

It was not known when the trial would resume.—Sapa