The Pretoria High Court had a chilling insight into the mind of a killer when a tape recording of the dying moments of his two victims was played as evidence on Tuesday. Judge Johan Els sentenced self-confessed double killer Barend (Ben) Bieldt (61) to 36 years’ imprisonment, of which he effectively has to serve 26 years.
The South African National Blood Service has received two testing instruments as part of efforts to exclude racial profiles from its blood safety procedures, the service said on Tuesday. Last year, the service was ordered by the Department of Health to develop blood safety procedures less reliant on a racial profile.
A Santiago appeals court on Tuesday lifted the immunity from prosecution of former dictator Augusto Pinochet (89), opening the way for him to be tried for financial fraud after the discovery that he had secret accounts in the United States, court sources said. Pinochet’s defence still can appeal the ruling to Chile’s Supreme Court.
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Schabir Shaik is still waiting to hear his fate after Durban High Court Judge Hillary Squires provisionally set aside Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning for sentencing. On Tuesday, Shaik’s advocate called on the court to show ”mercy and compassion”.
Attacks on Deputy President Jacob Zuma by opposition parties are ”malicious and wrong”, the African National Congress said on Tuesday in the National Assembly, referring to statements made by parties since the passing of judgement in the Schabir Shaik trial.
Americans who smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes aren’t likely to be pursued by federal authorities, despite a ruling by the top United States court that these users could face federal charges, people on both sides of the issue say. ”We have never targeted the sick and dying,” a Drug Enforcement Administration spokesperson said.
For the first time since the Cold War, global military spending exceeded -trillion in 2004 — nearly half of it by the United States, a prominent European think tank said on Tuesday. As military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror continue, the world spent ,035-trillion (R6,89-trillion) on defence costs during the year.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has applied to the Constitutional Court in relation to her fraud conviction, the court confirmed on Tuesday. This follows the dismissal by the Pretoria High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeals for leave to appeal her conviction on 43 counts of fraud and her suspended sentence.
”When Sandi Majali wrote cheques after getting a multimillion-rand advance from the state oil company, two of the first recipients were relatives of Cabinet ministers.” Thus starts the Mail & Guardian‘s follow-up to its ”Oilgate” exposé, which a Johannesburg High Court interdict kept out of print two weeks ago. On Tuesday, the court lifted the interdict.
A bulk carrier ship carrying a consignment of logs from West Africa was sinking off the coast of East London on Tuesday afternoon. The National Port Authority’s East London spokesperson, Terry Taylor, said they had received a call on Tuesday that the 180m Kiperousa was taking on water in her engine room.