A divorced father facing sentencing on five counts of fraud tried to escape by spraying a court orderly with pepper spray at the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Wednesday.
Fraud convict Marius Burger now faces a further charge of attempting to escape.
The incident happened late in the morning after magistrate Amrith Chabilall remanded him to December 3 for sentencing, as requested by prosecutor Esmeralda Johnson.
At a hearing in October, Chabilall refused an application launched by defence attorney Marco Thomas for Burger’s referral to a psychiatric hospital for 30 days’ observation after Burger had claimed to have bipolar mood swings.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, a pre-sentence probation report was to have been handed to the court but the document was not handed over.
Burger was escorted out of the courtroom back to the holding cells, when he allegedly sprayed gas from a canister into the court orderly’s face in an apparent attempt to escape.
However, Burger was overpowered by police officials and locked in a cell.
On one of the fraud counts, Burger falsely informed the Naude Family Trust at Hermanus, on the Cape southern coast, that he had a licence issued by the environmental and tourism authorities to fish commercially for abalone.
On three other charges, he issued dud cheques totalling R58 000 to business concerns, including Hermanus Building Supplies.
On the fifth count, he falsely informed Lucas van Aswegan, owner of the Dros Restaurant in Paarl, that he himself would purchase a cool room for R84 000, and re-sell it for a R156 000 profit.
By offering Van Aswegan an unspecified share in the profit, he convinced Van Aswegan to contribute R42 000 to the purchase of the cool room. — Sapa