A Johannesburg man who joked on board a kulula.com aircraft about hijacking the plane is to go on trial in the Bellville Regional Court in October.
The case was on Wednesday transferred from the Bellville Magistrate’s Court to the regional court, when Mncedisi Eric Maluleka (32) made his fourth appearance since his arrest in October last year.
The regional court may impose sentences of up to 15 years, while the magistrate’s court has a limit of three years.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, magistrate Helma Smit said Maluleka’s trial will start in the regional court on October 8. It has been set down for two days.
Defence counsel Hugo Rossouw said he will liaise with prosecutors to ensure that the case starts as scheduled, to save Maluleka the wasted cost of an air ticket. He said flight personnel will also have to be notified in time to ensure their attendance at the hearing.
It is alleged that, as a passenger on a kulula.com flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg on October 6, Maluleka asked flight staff what they would do if he and his friend hijacked the plane.
The remark caused the flight to return to Cape Town International Airport, where Maluleka was arrested together with his unnamed friend. The friend was subsequently released, when it was found that he had nothing to do with the joke.
Maluleka is now charged under the Aviation Act with jeopardising the operation, safety, good order and discipline on the flight.
The fact that the case has now been set down for a two-day trial indicates that the Western Cape directorate for public prosecutions has turned down representations made to it by Maluleka’s attorney, Phillip Bredenhann, for the withdrawal of the charge. — Sapa