An advocate who swore at Western Cape High Court judge Lee Bozalek claims he was drunk at the time, the Cape Argus reported on Thursday.
Nehemiah Ballem told the judge “Jou ma se poes, fuck you” after being quizzed on why he was several hours late for a case on Friday.
In an interview at his home in Ravensmead on Wednesday, Ballem told the newspaper he did not regret his outburst.
Ballem said his car had broken down in Gordon’s Bay on Friday.
When he realised he would not make it to court on time for an appeal he phoned his secretary to ask her to explain the situation to Bozalek.
He asked his secretary to request that the matter be postponed or removed from the roll because he did not know how long it would take him to arrive at court.
Ballem said he did not expect to attend court that day, so he started drinking a pack of Smirnoff Storm in his car while he waited for help to arrive.
Later, his secretary called him to say that Bozalek was prepared to wait for him until 2.30pm.
By the time he arrived at the court building, he was drunk, he said.
The Cape Bar Council and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions were investigating Ballem’s verbal attack on Bozalek. – Sapa