Ekurhuleni metro police head Robert McBride was awarded R200 000 of the R3,6-million damages claim he lodged against the Citizen newspaper in the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday.
A legal adviser in the case, who did not want to be named, said the editor, the company and columnist Andrew Kenny also had to pay interest at 15,5% 14 days from the date of judgement. Kenny’s column accounted for R100 000 of the order.
The case concerned mainly editorial comment by acting editor Martin Williams and opinion in a column by freelancer Andrew Kenny in September and October 2003.
The articles queried McBride’s suitability for the position of metro police chief.
Testifying in court during the case, Williams said the articles were because of McBride’s criminal record, which included the bombing of a bar in which 69 people were injured and three killed during the apartheid era.
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 legal adviser did not have further details of the judgement, read out in court, as it had to be retyped by court officials.
McBride has been placed on leave pending his trial for driving under the influence of alcohol, defeating the ends of justice and fraud in the Pretoria Regional Court relating to an accident in Centurion, Pretoria, in December 2006. — Sapa