Derby-Lewis pleads not guilty

2003-05-22 13:00

Pretoria - Gaye Derby-Lewis, whose husband, Clive, was convicted of the 1993 assassination of SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani, pleaded not guilty in Pretoria regional court on Thursday to charges related to the illegal possession of arms and ammunition.

She was arrested late last year in a countrywide swoop, dubbed Operation Hopper, which targeted people linked to the rightwing.

In a statement explaining her plea, Derby-Lewis, 62, claimed the search and seizure at her Waterkloof Ridge home in the early morning of November 29 last year was unconstitutional.

Evidence was obtained in a manner that infringed her rights and should be excluded, otherwise her trial would be unfair, says the statement.

Didn't keep guns in a safe - claim

Derby-Lewis is charged with possession of a .38 special revolver and shotgun without a licence or without the permission of the legal licence holder.

A second count relates to the possession of 12 live rounds of 9.65mm ammunition without being in possession of a firearm capable of firing them.

She is also charged for possessing firearms without keeping them in a safe, as required by law.

In her statement, Derby-Lewis denied she intentionally possessed the firearms and ammunition illegally.

She said she did not know her son, Anton Graser, had left the revolver in a chest of drawers before he went to Canada.

She was not aware that the Iver Johnson shotgun could be discharged, and believed it was an antique. It had been stored with other antique rifles belonging to her husband.

Derby-Lewis said she did not know her own licensed Rossi revolver could not fire the 9.65mm ammunition.

The ammunition was stored with the Rossi, which was always kept on her person or under her direct control.

She admitted she had no licence or permit to possess the .38 special and the shotgun, and that she had no safe to lock the firearms away.

The trial continues.

- SAPA