A technical blunder has landed North West agriculture MEC Dleleni Duma with an acquittal on a charge of drunken or reckless driving, The Citizen newspaper reported on Tuesday.
It said Potchefstroom magistrate Peter Jikkels said on Monday the state had ”blundered” with particulars on the charge sheet on where the alleged offence was committed.
The document stated that the incident took place at the intersection of Church and Lombard streets in Potchefstroom, while two state witnesses gave a different version.
They testified seeing Duma skip a red traffic light at another intersection, on the corner of Church and Retief streets.
The newspaper quoted Jikkels as saying: ”This technicality is of such a nature that the court cannot let the case proceed.”
He ordered the discharge of the MEC on a charge of drunken driving and an alternative of reckless or negligent driving.
The magistrate did not refer in his judgement to a blood alcohol report which — according to the charge sheet — had put the alcohol content in Duma’s blood at 0,23% on the morning of his arrest.
Defence counsel Lungila Tyata told the newspaper the report had not met certain technical legal requirements.
The policeman who arrested Duma at 3.15am on January 23 this year, and his partner testified that Duma had been unsteady on his feet when he got out of his car.
Both policemen said they saw Duma skipping a red traffic light at the corner of Church and Retief streets. – Sapa