Cwele drug-trafficking judgement due on May 4

Drug-trafficking accused Sheryl Cwele and her Nigerian co-accused Frank Nabolisa will know their fate on May 4, the Ramsgate High Court heard on Wednesday.

“The judgement will be made on May 4 in the Pietermaritzburg High Court,” said Judge Piet Koen, after the state and the defence teams presented their closing arguments on Wednesday.

Cwele and Nabolisa have pleaded not guilty to charges of dealing or conspiring to deal in drugs; procuring a woman called Charmaine Moss to collect drugs in Turkey; and procuring another woman, Tessa Beetge, to smuggle cocaine from South America.

Beetge was arrested when 10kg of cocaine was found in her luggage in Brazil in 2008 and is serving a jail sentence in Sao Paolo. Moss turned state witness.

Both Nabolisa and Cwele decided not to take the witness stand.—Sapa