The Citizen had portrayed Robert McBride as a criminal, his lawyer said during the metro police chief’s R3,6-million defamation suit against the newspaper on Wednesday.
Advocate Daniel Berger told the Johannesburg High Court that acting editor Martin Williams ignored the fact that McBride was granted amnesty, thus clearing his criminal record for acts which were politically motivated.
Berger said a high court in Mozambique withdrew charges of gun-running against McBride and therefore he had no criminal record.
Yet the Citizen had referred to McBride as a bomber and a cold-blooded multiple murderer. The articles were aimed at discrediting McBride so that he was not appointed to the post of chief of metro police in Ekurhuleni, said Berger.
McBride launched a R3,6-million lawsuit against the Citizen for articles published prior to his appointment as the chief of the Ekurhuleni metro police.
The articles stated that he was unsuitable for the position.
McBride has laid five charges of defamation against the newspaper and five for impairment of dignity.
Earlier on Wednesday, Williams said the published articles stating that McBride was not suitable for the position of chief of police were because of his criminal record, which included the bombing of a bar in which 69 people were injured and three women killed.
He said McBride was once detained for gun dealing in Mozambique and also had no experience or academic training as a traffic officer.
Because of this he was not suitable for the position as the chief of metro police, said Williams.
The case concerns mainly editorial comment by Williams, and opinion in a column by freelancer Andrew Kenny in September and October 2003.
The bombing Williams referred to was at a bar off Durban’s beachfront in 1986, while McBride was a cadre in Umkhonto weSizwe, the military wing of the then-banned African National Congress.
In 1998 McBride was arrested in Mozambique on suspicion of arms-trafficking. He said then that he was investigating the illegal trade of arms.
McBride has two other court cases pending — one regarding a court order made against him and five metro police officers not to intimidate three colleagues who allegedly removed him from an accident scene without following proper procedure.
In November, he will face charges of driving under the influence of alcohol, defeating the ends of justice and fraud, in the Pretoria Regional Court, relating to an accident in Centurion in December.
The lawsuit case against the newspaper has been postponed to a date to be determined by the lawyers and the court. — Sapa