A picture of a Pretoria advocate couple in the nude is to be the topic of an application against the media in the city’s high court on Tuesday.
Lawyers for the pair, who stand accused of an array of sexual crimes against women and girls, have asked Judge Essop Patel to invoke Section 205 of the Criminal Procedure Act, forcing the tabloid Die Son to reveal the source of the photograph it published on February 18.
Prinsloo’s advocate, Piet Coetzee, argued before the court last month that the picture was meant as a private expression of ”the beauty of their love” and was now being ”made ugly”.
Coetzee and Gerhard Botha, for Visser, argued that the publication of the photograph amounted to contempt of court and defamation of character.
”The publication of the photograph served no purpose of informing the public, only to humiliate and degrade the accused before court,” Coetzee argued at the time.
Botha contended that his client’s right to dignity and privacy had been infringed in ”the most horrible way”.
The picture on page three shows the two naked and smiling contentedly, with Prinsloo leaning his head against Visser’s surgically enhanced bosom while clutching her buttocks.
Both defence lawyers intimated that someone working for the prosecuting authority or the police’s investigating team must have leaked the pictures.
Patel ruled that the matter be dealt with on Tuesday in the form of a formal application supported by evidence and affidavits.
Also expected to be argued on Tuesday was an application for a postponement of the trial to later this year.
Lawyers for both sides have indicated they would need about 12 more weeks to finalise the matter.
Prinsloo and Visser are out on R4 000 bail each. – Sapa