The ”Jeppestown massacre” accused filed an application for the recusal of the judge from the Johannesburg High Court proceedings on Friday.
Judge Ratha Mokgoathleng was accused of being biased during court proceedings.
The accused said that early in the week, one of them complained of acute stomach pain.
They said the judge responded in a hostile, dismissive and impatient manner to the accused and his defence counsel.
”He went as far asking ‘who is going to be sick next week, speak now, I will have a doctor on standby’,” said advocate Robin Stransham-Ford, the lead defence counsel.
The defence counsel said they raised a complaint about one of the accused detained at C-Max prison, who was receiving only one meal per day.
They told the court that the judge’s response to this was also dismissive, saying: ”Why are they not dead from hunger?”
The defence complained that during court proceedings Mokgoathleng had attacked a defence counsel who asked for an adjournment, because the counsel wanted to have written evidence translated from Afrikaans to English.
Mokgoathleng was also accused of intervention during cross-examination by the defence counsels.
They claimed the judge was treating the state prosecutor differently.
”It is apparent to me that the treatment of the state advocate is different. The differentiation is unjustified; that created suspicion of bias against the accused,” the application stated.
The accused said there was mis-interpretation or misrepresentation of the defence counsels’ submissions.
They referred to the court proceedings on Thursday where one of the counsel requested a 45-minute adjournment to take instructions for the recusal.
”On resumption the counsel disclosed that recusal would be sought and therefore requested a postponement. But the judge proceeded to attempt to compel the counsel to listen to the footage of a recording there and then.
”He was visibly irritated, angry and impatient, and this again reinforced the perception of bias and unfairness.”
The matter was postponed for continuation on Monday due to time constraints.
Thirteen people are on trial for the death of 12 people, including four police officers, in a shoot-out in Jeppestown after a supermarket robbery on the West Rand in June 2006. — Sapa