Derby-Lewis freed on one rap

2003-05-26 15:36

Pretoria - Gaye Derby-Lewis, wife of former Conservative Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis, was acquitted on one of three charges against her in Pretoria regional court on Monday.

She was acquitted by magistrate Magriet Cook of possessing 12 rounds of 9.65mm ammunition without owning a firearm capable of discharging them.

The acquittal came after an application by Derby-Lewis's legal representative, Gideon Scheepers, that all charges against her be dropped.

The trial was continuing on charges of illegal possession of a .38 Special revolver and an Iver Johnson rifle dating back to the Anglo-Boer war. She also still faced a charge of not keeping the weapons in a safe.

Scheepers told the court a State witness testified last week that Derby-Lewis's licenced Rossi revolver could discharge the 9.65mm rounds.

He asked that the charge relating to the illegal possession of the revolver be changed to the alternative count of not having written permission from her son, Anton, to keep his gun at her home.

Prosecution didn't oppose application

He also urged the court to drop the charge for possession of the Iver Johnson rifle, saying the same witness supported her claim that it looked like an antique.

The witness, police ballistics expert superintendent Lukas Visser, conceded last week that a novice could take the rifle for an antique.

Scheepers said: "This mistake she made was, in fact, a reasonable mistake. It was a common mistake."

Prosecutor Job Masina did not oppose the application for the withdrawal of the illegal ammunition charge.

He contended, however, that Derby-Lewis had had custody of the firearms for a considerable period of time during which she should have declared them to the authorities.

"She should have terminated custody of the firearms through legal alternatives. At the time of her arrest, she did not have a letter of permission to hold her son's firearm," said Masina.

He submitted there was no safe in her home or places where the firearms could be locked up safely.

"That is a clear contravention of the law."

Believed the rifle to be an antique

Masina contended that mere knowledge of the existence of the firearms in the house meant that Derby-Lewis had assumed control and custody of the items.

Taking the stand in her defence, Derby-Lewis testified she believed the Iver Johnson to have been one of several antique items belonging to her husband which was kept in the cupboard where police found it. She did not know her son's revolver was in the house.

Asked by Scheepers about reports that the rightwing Boeremag organisation planned to spring her husband from Pretoria's C-Max Prison, she said she had distanced herself from this when she read about it in the media.

"I had never heard of the Boeremag. I did not know these people."

Her husband is serving a life sentence for the 1993 murder of SA Communist Party secretary-general Chris Hani.

- SAPA