JUDGE WON?T VIEW VIDEO IN PAGAD TRIAL

PROSECUTORS in the case of five men accused of the 1996 murder of Hard Livings Gang boss Rashaad Staggie, received a major blow on Thursday when Cape High Court Judge John Foxcroft ruled that he would not view video footage taken the night that Staggie was killed. The case against senior members of Pagad is now in danger of falling apart because the video footage of the murder is believed to be crucial to the State’s case. The State alleges that Ebrahim led a group of several hundred supporters in an attack on Staggie’s Salt River home in July 1996. Staggie was shot several times and then burned alive by the enraged mob. Foxcroft said he would not view video footage taken the night that Staggie was killed because it could not be regarded as real evidence as it did not have affidavits or certificates to authenticate it. – Pana