Motata case postponed yet again
2009-04-24 16:34
Johannesburg - The drunk driving case against high court judge Nkola Motata was postponed in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Friday.
Magistrate Desmond Nair put off the matter to June 1 for the state to furnish heads of argument, in response to a discharge application brought by Motata's advocate.
Nair said Motata's counsel must also respond to the state at his next appearance.
Earlier Motata's lawyer Bantubonke Tokoto accused witness Richard Baird of being racist and said he was the worst complainant ever.
Racist remarks
"He was a dishonest witness... and made disturbing racist remarks. He saw a black judge and called him a drunken kaffir, it's a criminal offence to say that... he humiliated him.
"He also didn't want to be exposed in the media as a racist," Tokoto said, referring to Baird's initially not wanting to appear in court.
Motata, 60, crashed his Jaguar into the perimeter wall of Baird's house in Hurlingham, Johannesburg in 2007 - allegedly while drunk.
Tokoto told the court that the state's evidence against Motata was weak, and that for witnesses to smell liquor on someone was not sufficient evidence to indicate drunkenness.
"Certain medication could even make you smell of liquor," he said.
He said if Motata was drunk, he wouldn't have co-operated with police.
"He wouldn't have shown police the shortest way to the police station, after they arrested him."
Manipulated
He said Baird put pressure on whoever was at the scene to have Motata arrested.
"The evidence was so exaggerated... Baird called the police and said 'I've got a drunk here in my yard'... all he wanted was the arrest of the accused."
Tokoto said five cellphone recordings Baird took of Motata that night could have been manipulated.
"On TV, you can see a man being stabbed by a knife and he dies, but that is just manipulation, and he [Baird] has the skills to manipulate."
He said Baird also armed himself with a camera, waited at the scene and selectively recorded to make a case for Motata's conviction.
The trial resumed on Friday, after a delay caused by Motata's deciding to change his legal team a second time.
Nair said that final judgement on the matter would be heard on June 25 or 26.
- SAPA