Jonathan Ancer
He attacked policemen in court; he had nine different=20 lawyers; he called Springbok rugby wing James Small as=20 his witness; he made an obscene gesture to the judge,=20 tried to force his recusal and yelled at him ”I’ll see=20 you right”.
Now Gary Beuthin is going to the Constitutional Court=20 to continue his campaign against the justice system. He=20 is currently facing five charges including attempted=20 murder arising from an incident in 1990 and he feels=20 his rights have been violated.
”An application will be made to the Constitutional=20 Court on the grounds that Mr Beuthin has been precluded=20 by the prison authorities from adequately preparing his=20 trial. Files of his were seized and he was not even=20 allowed to phone me,” said his attorney Michael Werner.
According to the head of Diepkloof Prison’s Medium B=20 section, Colonel Johan Muller, Beuthin has access to a=20 public telephone which is 20 metres from his cell. He=20 said that Beuthin, who does co-operate with the prison=20 authorities ”from time to time”, just has to call a=20 warden, who guards him while he is on the phone.=20
”From the beginning we have assisted him in preparing=20 his case. It is strange that he says we don’t help him.=20 We gave him a table and chair to assist him prepare his=20 case and most of the time he uses it to plan horse=20 racing bets. He is big on the horses,” laughed Muller.=20
”I did take information and documents away from him,=20 but most of that was stacks and stacks of horse racing=20 forms. I didn’t take away anything that he needed to=20 prepare his case.”
”We assist him within certain guidelines and he knows=20 that. Obviously we can’t give him everything … after=20 all, he is still a prisoner”, he said.
Two years ago, in one of the most sensational cases=20 heard before a South African court, former bouncer=20 Beuthin, 30, was convicted of assaulting his former=20 girlfriend Jill Reeves with intent to commit grievous=20 bodily harm.
In his judgment, Justice Strydom pointed out that the=20 court had spent 48 hours 56 minutes dealing with=20 Beuthin’s complaints and 38 hours 28 minutes on=20 adjournments to allow Beuthin to brief nine different=20
Beuthin’s conviction stems from May 10 1992, when he=20 kidnapped Reeves and held her captive for 12 days=20 until, facilitated by Rhema Church preacher Ray=20 McCauley, he handed himself over to police.
State witness Brian Hosiosky testified that the 112=20 kilogram body-builder jumped on her head. Beuthin=20 admitted assaulting Reeves but denied criminal=20 responsibility, stating that she had provoked him while=20 he was under the combined influence of alcohol, cocaine=20 and steroids.
The court refused Beuthin’s application that he be=20 medically observed while under the influence of the=20 same amount of substance he claimed to have taken.
He also unsuccessfully applied for Judge Strydom to=20 recuse himself from the trial on the grounds that he=20 was not allowed sufficient time to prepare his closing=20
After he was found guilty he said he was not prepared=20 to lead evidence in mitigation of sentence and asked=20 the court to impose a double death sentence because he=20 did not want to be in prison when he was 45. A week=20 later he changed his mind and said he thought a prison=20 sentence of between six and ten years was appropriate.=20 Strydom sentenced him to 25 years’ imprisonment and=20 refused him leave to appeal.
From=20his cell in Diepkloof prison Beuthin continues his=20 campaign against the legal system.
On December 9 1993, three months after Beuthin had=20 started serving his sentence, Reeves disappeared.=20 Following a national search that lasted over a month,=20 her decomposing body was found in her car in the Kruger=20 National Park, in a side road 15 kilometres from the=20 Numbi gate. Reeves had gassed herself.=20
These are just two of Beuthin’s confrontations with the=20 law — by the time he was 18 he had been found guilty=20 of charges ranging from malicious damage to property,=20 unlawful possession of a firearm and firing it in an=20 urban area, housebreaking and assault. He was a member=20 of a group of bouncers known as the Bouncer Gang, which=20 allegedly terrorised Johannesburg nightclubs.
In 1984 he was convicted for his role in an attack on a=20 nightclub which left one person dead and several people=20 injured. He served 16 months of a three year sentence=20 and, during the two year trial, he narrowly escaped=20 death when he was shot in the lung.