Scorpions investigator Ivor Powell walked free on Monday after charges against him of drunken driving and reckless driving were struck off the roll in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court.
When a case is struck from the roll, it is tantamount to the charges being withdrawn.
Charges may only be re-instituted with the written consent of the Western Cape directorate of public prosecutions (DPP).
Powell (52) was arrested late on the night of January 22, with fugitive Igshaan Davids — also known as ”Sanie American” — in the car with him.
It is alleged that Powell tried to avoid arrest by speeding away, which resulted in the additional charges of reckless driving and defeating the ends of justice.
Davids himself is to appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court June 23 on two car-theft charges.
At Monday’s proceedings, before magistrate Den Ngoqo, prosecutor Silvino Pillay told the court Powell’s docket had been forwarded to the DPP on May 8 for a decision on whether to prosecute Powell and, if so, on what charges.
He said no DPP decision had yet been conveyed to him, nor was the docket at court, as it had to be.
It was Powell’s third appearance, and Pillay asked for a third postponement to await both the docket as well as the DPP decision.
Defence attorney Joe Weeber objected to the postponement, and said it had been known since Powell’s arrest in January that the DPP would be involved in the case.
Weeber said the case was not complicated, nor was there anything ”sinister or ulterior” in the charges.
He added: ”The state is dragging its heels unnecessarily.”
Ngoqo responded: ”One way or another, something has to be done.”
He said the case was a high-profile one, and had received much publicity.
He said the court had been informed at the previous hearing on April 29 that the investigation had been completed, and he could not understand why it was taking the DPP so long to decide.
Ngoqo said he could not allow the state another postponement, which obliged him to remove the case from the roll. — Sapa