Judge heard swearing after crash

2008-07-02 13:32

Johannesburg - The Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Wednesday heard a recording of Judge Nkola John Motata swearing at the businessman whose wall the judge crashed into, allegedly while drunk.

"We'll repair the damage, it's not a problem," the judge was heard telling businessman Richard Baird's tenant.

"However, he [Baird] must not degrade me. No boer is going to undermine me, fuck him. He mustn't insult me, fuck him, I don't care," Motata said in the recording Baird made on an I-Mate cellphone.

The court heard three of five audio recordings made at the scene of Motata's car accident in Johannesburg in January last year.

This followed a Pretoria High Court ruling that dismissed Motata's application to stop the disputed recordings from being played during a trial-within-a-trial to test their admissibility.

Baird made the recordings on his cellphone and then downloaded the clips onto his computer.

Some of the recordings were in seTswana and seSotho and Magistrate Desmond Nair had to call in interpreters to translate.

Motata, dressed in a black pinstripe suit, hardly looked up as he made notes on the audio recording transcripts.

Motata, presently on paid leave, was charged with drunken driving and defeating the ends of justice after smashing his Jaguar into the wall of Baird's Hurlingham, Johannesburg property.

- SAPA