Authorities at Pollsmoor Prison have refused an application for the transfer of Fidentia’s J Arthur Brown from the prison hospital to a private clinic, the Cape Town Regional Court heard on Wednesday.
Brown faces embezzlement charges relating to the investment company Fidentia and the Transport Education and Training Authority, for which he is on R1-million bail.
He is also on R5 000 bail on similar charges involving the two investment concerns, Fundi and Infinity.
Whilst on bail, he was rearrested on similar charges, this time involving the Antheru Trust.
Brown’s current psychiatric condition includes bipolar mood disorder, which is aggravated by severe depression caused by an alleged sexual assault on him while being transported with other prisoners from the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court to Pollsmoor.
The purpose of Wednesday’s proceedings before magistrate Wilma van der Merwe was to set a trial date in the Cape Town Regional Court in the Fundi and Infinity case. The proceedings did not involve an application to the court itself for his transfer from the prison hospital to a private clinic.
After Brown’s alleged sexual assault, he was treated for shock and other symptoms at a private clinic, but was moved back to the prison hospital on the recommendation of district surgeon, Dr Paul Theron.
Brown now wishes to be moved back to the private clinic, complaining that he does not receive the prescribed medication in the prison hospital.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, the court was cleared and changed into a psychiatric consulting room to enable private psychiatrist Pieter Cilliers to assess his condition.
Cilliers afterwards told the court that Brown needed to be in a private psychiatric unit for about 30 days, and not in a harsh prison environment.
Cilliers told the court that Brown often received death threats in prison and that prisoners often visited his cell to view him, as if he were on show to the inmates.
Van der Merwe postponed the case to September 29, when a trial date is to be set.
She urged Brown to make the best of a bad situation and to speak up rather than say nothing if he did not receive his medication.
Brown’s attorney, Rashad Khan, said he was considering an approach to the Cape High Court, or the prison judge, to secure Brown’s transfer to a private clinic. — Sapa