Brown Mogotsi’s defence will return to the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on 23 October to argue an application compelling the state to provide further particulars after his lawyers told the court on Wednesday that they were dissatisfied with the response they had received.
Mogotsi appeared before magistrate Annalise Tlhapi as his legal team continued to pursue information it says is necessary to prepare his defence.
The defence indicated that it intended to challenge the state’s response and ask the court to compel the prosecution to comply with its request for further particulars.
“We have received what is purported to be a response. I can advise the court to submit that we are dissatisfied with the response from the state,” the defence counsel told Tlhapi.
“The instruction I hold your worship is to compel, to bring an application to compel the state to actually comply with that particular request for further particulars,” counsel said. The application will allow the defence to set out why it believes the state’s response is inadequate and why the information it has requested should be provided.
The matter was postponed until 23 October to allow that application to be heard. The defence explained that 16 October had initially been arranged as a date for the application but the state prosecutor indicated that he was no longer available on that day.
Counsel told the court that the prosecutor was available on 23 October, making the date suitable for the parties to return to court and have the application heard.
The request for further particulars relates to information the defence says it needs before the case can progress. Among the material sought are cellphone and employment records relating to State witness A5, proof of residence for witnesses A5 and A6, unredacted witness statements and images extracted from video footage linked to the alleged shooting in Vosloorus. The defence has previously argued that the information will assist it in assessing the state’s evidence and preparing to challenge the witnesses’ accounts.
The disclosure of witness information has been disputed throughout the proceedings. The state has previously raised concerns about providing certain personal details of witnesses, while the defence has argued that it needs sufficient information to investigate the allegations against Mogotsi. The issue has therefore become part of the preparation for the eventual trial, with the two sides yet to reach an agreement on all the information being sought.