Badih Chaaban, the leader of the National People’s Party, went berserk at an early morning meeting in his office and started swearing at the party’s national organiser, the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court heard on Friday.
Chaaban pleaded not guilty before magistrate Menze Tyulu when his case was called on Friday afternoon.
He is charged with serious assault on the party’s national organiser, John van der Merwe, with common assault on party official David Sasman, and with two counts of crimen injuria.
On the crimen injuria charges, he is alleged to have said to Van der Merwe and Sasman: ”You dog, you bastard.”
On the serious assault charge, Chaaban is alleged to have thrown a cup at Van der Merwe at the meeting, and on the common assault charge he is alleged to have thrown a batch of documents, lying on his desk, at Sasman.
Defence attorney Cornel Stander said Chaaban’s defence to the charges involving Sasman was that the law was not concerned with trivialities.
Van der Merwe told the court that he and Sasman were called to a meeting at Chaaban’s home on a morning in September last year.
He told the court: ”We were busy building a political party, and the meeting was about my unhappiness with the change in the party’s constitution.”
Before the meeting even started, Chaaban went berserk and called the two men dogs and bastards, Van der Merwe told the court.
He added: ”He picked up a batch of papers, and threw them at Sasman’s face and then threw a cup at my face.”
He said the cup hit him on the forehead, and caused bleeding.
Van der Merwe said he did not know whether Chaaban’s anger was caused by Van der Merwe’s unhappiness with the change in the party’s constitution.
When Van der Merwe started bleeding, Chaaban threw tissues at him and told him to clean himself up and to get out of his office, Van der Merwe said.
Van der Merwe said he went straight to the police to lay a charge, and on the way he received two calls from people in the party urging him not to lay a charge.
Asked by prosecutor Xolisile Philisane how he felt after being called a dog and a bastard, he said: ”I was stunned and humiliated.”
Stander said Chaaban was angry over the fact that he had given Van der Merwe R2 200 cash for a trip to George on the Cape South coast, for recruitment purposes.
However, Chaaban had had difficulty in reaching Van der Merwe by phone in George, and when he eventually reached him, Chaaban got the impression that Van der Merwe was drunk.
Van der Merwe denied that he had received any calls at all from Chaaban in George, and it then transpired that Chaaban had in fact called Sasman, who had been with Van der Merwe in George.
The hearing continues on November 20. — Sapa