A Pretoria High Court judge was arrested for drunk driving on Friday after he drove into a wall north of Johannesburg, the Sunday Times reported.
Judge Nkola Motata allegedly resisted arrest and was put in a police car by five metro police officers in Hurlingham, the paper’s early edition reported on Saturday night.
Metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar confirmed a judge had been arrested for drunk driving charges but would not name the driver.
Minnaar said two female officers on the scene had called for assistance after the judge became uncooperative.
Police are investigating a case of drunken driving. The judge is expected to appear in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
He was released from the Parkview Police Station after paying R1 000 bail, the Sunday Times reported.
Motata denied he had been drinking and that he had argued with police officers and resisted arrest. He said he had not been detained or made to pay a fine.
He claimed he hit the wall when accidentally reversing after avoiding a reckless and speeding car, the paper said.
”I wasn’t drunk at all … I had been with one of my colleagues earlier that night drinking tea.”
Witnesses said Motata had tried to start the car a number of times but that his car keys were confiscated by the owner of the property.
The Sunday Times further reported that in an audio recording of the drama at the scene, Motata was heard repeatedly swearing at the owner for accusing him of being drunk.
The newspaper also carried a photograph of the judge in his car at the scene of the accident. — Sapa