Judge denies spy-camera link

2002-03-07 16:00

Cape Town - The deputy judge-president of the Cape, Judge Jeanette Traverso has emphatically denied any involvement in the installation of secret cameras in the Rashaad Staggie trial courtroom.

Traverso convened a media briefing after testimony in the Staggie trial by a senior police officer who alleged he had met her in chambers where she authorised the installation of the cameras and, in fact, had given him access to the courtroom.

Traverso said her only concern was to clear her name.

She said that when an allegation was made of a judge lying - as was the case here - he or she had to urgently set the record straight or admit that he or she had lied.

Traverso said the situation had been an attack on her integrity, which was the most precious possession that she would defend with her life.

She said public prosecutions National Director Bulelani Ngcuka had asked her not to issue a statement about it, and she told him she would "think about it".

She told reporters she had made it clear to Ngcuka that it was her clear intention to issue a press statement setting out the facts in full and clearing her name.

- SAPA