A senior advocate with the crime-busting Scorpions unit broke down in the Randburg Regional Court on Monday when she heard she would have to remain in Johannesburg prison.
Fearing victimisation, Portia Kgantsi (39) appeared shaken when she heard she would have to wait another seven days for her bail application.
She was appearing on charges of corruption, extortion and defeating the ends of justice.
Kgantsi consulted with her lawyer, Solomon Mkhabela, who requested that she be allowed to stay in the cells at a police station.
He argued that one could not disregard the way the public viewed the Scorpions and that the possibility of victimisation should not be excluded.
Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Herman Broodryk said she would not be able to do so.
”We don’t have any reason to have her detained in police cells; unfortunately I can’t assist,” he told the court.
It was at this point that Kgantsi hunched over in tears, burying her face in her hands.
Station commanders were apparently loath to allow people to be detained in their cells without good reason.
”I can’t tell the state what to do. If you can persuade him it is a different story,” regional magistrate George Andrews told Mkhabela.
Kgantsi was arrested last Thursday after allegedly being found with R40 000, thought to have been paid to her by awaiting-trial detainees in a criminal matter being handled by the Scorpions.
Two of the men arrested had been paying her large amounts of cash ”in exchange for her promises to have the criminal matter go away”, said National Prosecutions Authority spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi.
Kgantsi, who works in the Scorpions Pretoria regional office, arrived at the court in a black-and-red Scorpions vehicle, casually dressed in a grey sweatshirt and jeans with a lavender scarf around her head.
Her case was postponed until October 9 to allow the state to prepare its case.
Broodryk said he intended to obtain a certificate from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, which would declare the case a ”certain schedule”, and would put the onus on the accused to convince the court she should be granted bail.
Mkhabela opposed the application for postponement, saying the state had not advanced justifiable reasons for it. He said his client was suffering from chronic headaches and an ulcer.
Andrews disagreed, saying the state had given sufficient reasons for the postponement, which was not an unreasonable application.
Kgantsi would remain in custody until the formal bail hearing next Monday. — Sapa