The drunken-driving trial of Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata has been postponed to Tuesday next week to give his defence team time to consider its next move.
The leader of the team, Bantubonke Tokota, told Johannesburg magistrate Desmond Nair on Friday that he and his colleagues wanted further consultation with experts on audio recordings that the state intended to present as evidence.
He said they had to decide whether it was proper to oppose the admission of the recordings, or whether it was ”a waste of time” to do so.
”We want to get it right,” he said.
When Nair asked when they wanted the case to resume, Tokota’s colleague, Danie Dorfling, gave a long explanation of the problems the defence faced.
These included the fact that the date of the creation of the file of audio recordings on state witness Richard Baird’s laptop was not January 6, (the day of Motata’s arrest), and that the MP3 format of the file could not be accessed with standard programmes.
The court also heard that when the defence lawyers were allowed access to the laptop on Wednesday, they found a two-second video clip.
Though the nature of the clip was not explained in court, it is understood it also related to the case.
Before postponing the case, Nair lambasted both the state and the defence.
He expressed concern that the defence team received transcripts of the recording from the state only two days before the trial began.
”It is a cause for concern, because this is a criminal trial and not a game,” he said.
”The element of surprise may lead to a finding of a trial by ambush … I am deeply concerned.”
He also expressed concern that although the defence was given copies of the docket, plus an indication of what the exhibits were, it ”sat back” before reacting.
He said the defence had alluded to the judge president of the Pretoria High Court having put Motata down to hear cases before the end of the year.
Nair said he did not think it was appropriate for the ”accused’s seniors to be brought into this court”.
”The trial will run … I will consider the accused to be no different than any other accused,” he said.
He said the defence and the state should work together in ironing out issues related to the evidence before they returned to court on Tuesday.
These included questions around the blood-alcohol tests carried out on the judge, and a witness statement that the defence had not received from the state.
After the court adjourned, Motata stood in an inside corridor of the building smoking a cigarette and talking to friends.
He looked more tense than he had since the trial began on Wednesday.
Members of his family were in court to support him.
He faces charges of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, with an alternative charge of reckless and negligent driving.
He also faces a count of defeating the ends of justice with an alternative charge of resisting arrest.
Motata was taken into custody on the night of January 6 after crashing his Jaguar into the wall of Baird’s Hurlingham, Johannesburg, home. — Sapa