A British national accused of starting a blaze on Table Mountain in January in which a woman died, appeared briefly in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
Anthony Cooper, out on bail of R3 000, faces charges of arson and culpable homicide.
He is alleged to have flicked a burning cigarette into the brush. Conservation officials saw him and eventually apprehended him.
In court on Friday his attorney Reaz Khan objected to a further postponement requested by the state.
Khan told magistrate Herman Van der Merwe that his client, who was arrested on January 26, had a right to a speedy trial.
”Clearly there was negligence on the state’s side regarding the state of the investigation … there is no excuse for today’s [Friday] postponement,” Khan said.
Prosecutor Juanita Swart said the state was waiting for a statement from a witness, and a fire report.
She told the court the defence had wanted to opt for a plea bargain, but decided against this.
Khan suggested that the court, which had granted a final postponement in March, would be ”condoning” the state’s negligence should it grant another postponement.
He said the results of the post mortem performed on the corpse of the elderly woman had been available on February 1. The postponement of March 31 had not been necessary.
Concerning the plea bargain, Khan said he had not had an opportunity to consult with his client about this.
”[We are] not going to consider the plea bargain and not even going to plead guilty to these charges.”
Khan said his client was complying with his bail conditions and had already handed in his passport.
He said a warrant of arrest for Cooper, on an unrelated drunken driving charge, had been withdrawn after Cooper arrived at court later than expected.
Van der Merwe agreed that it was ”extremely unacceptable” that no one bothered to take the witness’s statement.
The matter has been provisionally postponed to the regional court for June 28, to allow the defence access to some documents. — Sapa