/ 8 May 2014

Krejcir kidnapping case postponed

Krejcir Kidnapping Case Postponed

The trial of Czech businessman Radovan Krejcir and five others accused of kidnapping was postponed by the high court in Johannesburg on Thursday. The matter will resume on Monday, to give the defence time to study information it received from the state. 

Annelene van der Heever, for Krejcir, told the court the state had given her 56 000 documents of data derived from cellphone conversations by the accused. She said she received the documents a few days before the trial, and her team was unable to go through them in time. 

Prosecutor Louis Masheane said it was unnecessary to study all the documents because he had provided an affidavit pointing out the relevant pages. “The affidavit indicates what is contained in the documents and which parts are relevant.” 

Judge Collin Lamont said if the defence relied on the affidavit they would not know on which pages the state’s evidence was based on. He asked Masheane: “If I give you 56 000 copies in three days before trial can you be able to prepare for trial?” Masheane replied no and then told the court that only about 100 documents were relevant to the case. 

Lamont instructed the state to provide the defence with the 100 documents. Masheane insisted he was ready to start with the trial. 

The defence was not ready, however, claiming the state had held back information it had requested. – Sapa