No disciplinary action will be taken against the Kimberley magistrate who released a number of suspects at the end of a working day in court in 2006, the Magistrates’ Commission said on Monday.
Magistrate Kubashni Padayachee was initially accused of wrongfully striking the cases against 13 suspects from the court roll, resulting in their immediate release.
The secretary to the commission, Danie Schoeman, said the commission’s ethics committee considered the matter and finalised the issue last week.
”It concluded that whatever Ms Padayachee did on the day in question was done in the exercising of her judicial discretion,” he said.
At the time, Padayachee was reported to have said that she freed the 13 accused because it was the end of the day and this meant the men would not appear in court within 48 hours of their arrest.
Schoeman said the ethics committee resolved not to proceed with misconduct proceedings against Padayachee as ”there would be no basis to do so”. — Sapa