/ 29 January 2007

Former Miss SA finalist out on bail

A former Free State Miss South Africa finalist, Taryn Thompson, and her husband appeared in the Welkom Magistrate’s Court on Monday on drug-related charges.

Thompson was released on bail of R1 000 while her husband was remanded and will formally apply for bail on February 5, said police spokesperson Captain Magda Muller.

The couple spent the weekend in jail after allegedly being caught at her parents’ house with illegal drugs and ingredients to make drugs.

Police said earlier that it could not be stated with certainty that the seized substances were drugs. They first had to be tested at a forensic laboratory.

Earlier, police spokesperson Superintendent William Mokwena also did not want to comment on the possibility that substances found in the home of Thompson’s parents could be used to manufacture drugs.

A team of forensic specialists from Gauteng searched the house on Saturday morning.

A local newspaper reported on Monday that police went to the house where Thompson, her husband and two children live with their parents on Friday after receiving reports of family violence.

Accusations were bandied back and forth, after which information on drugs was apparently conveyed to the police.

Members of the unit against organised crime took over and Thompson’s husband was arrested on Friday afternoon.

Thompson, also Miss Goldfield in 1999, was arrested on Saturday after further investigations by police. — Sapa