The hearing of germ-warfare expert Wouter Basson has been postponed until September next year, after prosecutors on Tuesday said they were embarrassed by the testimony of their own expert witness.
Basson on Monday pleaded not guilty to six charges brought against him at the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
The charges brought by some of his peers relate to Basson’s time as head of the apartheid government’s chemical and biological warfare project.
On Monday, arguing on behalf of the prosecution, Professor Solomon Benatar, an expert on ethics, said Basson’s actions did not fit the description of the duties and responsibilities of a medical professional.
He argued that Basson was guilty of professional misconduct. But after a gruelling cross examination by Basson’s lawyer, advocate Jaap Cilliers, SC, Benatar said he ”increasingly” saw difficulty with the charges brought against Basson at the HPSCA.
On Tuesday, advocate Marius Helberg, SC, the prosecutor, said his team was embarrassed by the evidence of Benatar.
”The witness made concessions that he should not have made,” Helberg said.
Cilliers said it would not help the prosecution to call another witness to contradict Benatar.
”Are they expecting you to do a head count with two saying no and one saying yes?” Cilliers asked.
He said if the expert witness called by the prosecution made concessions that favoured the defence, that should be accepted. – Sapa