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Baby Jordan programme queried
05/08/2005 10:52 - (SA)
Ziegfried Ekron, Die Burger
Cape Town - A second court case related to the murder of six-month-old Jordan Leigh Norton will start in the High Court even before her alleged murderers will take the stand.
Television channel e.tv and the director of public prosecutions (DPP) will take each other on over a documentary programme about the day Jordan Leigh was stabbed to death after she, her uncle and their domestic worker were attacked in their house in Lansdowne.
The state claims the programme could jeopardise its case against Dina Rodrigues, 24, the alleged mastermind behind the murder, and her co-accused - Zanethemba Gwada, 18, Mongezi Bobotyane, 22, Sipho Mfaswe, 32, and a 16-year-old youth.
The programme contains interviews with Dylan Norton, Jordan's uncle, and the domestic worker, who may not be named. Both are state witnesses in the court case.
e.tv had to change its programme schedule at the last moment on Tuesday evening when the DPP applied for an urgent interdict to prevent the broadcaster from airing the programme.
Deputy director of public prosecutions in the Western Cape, Tessa Heunis, asked to see the programme before it is broadcasted, but e.tv refused.
"We cannot say beforehand whether it will jeopardise our case, but we cannot rely on e.tv's opinion. In any case, the matter is still sub judice," she said.
Freedom of the press
Dan Rosengarten, e.tv's legal representative, said he believes the DPP's request is violating the freedom of the press. "It is nothing less than pre-censure. The programme does not contain anything that has not been in the public domain already. There is no precedent for what the DPP wants now.
"The channel undertook to protect the identity of the people with whom interviews were conducted. In any case, the sub judice rule is outdated. No judge will change his ruling based on an interview that lasted a few minutes."
Heunis, however, does not believe that it is the judgement of the judge that will be influenced by the programme. "We go out of our way to prevent witnesses from speaking to each other in order to keep them objective. How can we ensure their objectivity when they see each other's testimony on television?"
The case will be heard on August 18.
Rodrigues and her co-accused will appear in the Wynberg magistrate's court on Wednesday.
- Die Burger
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