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'Paper made McBride a criminal'
25/07/2007 15:59 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The Citizen newspaper portrayed Robert McBride as a criminal, his lawyer said during McBride's R3.6m defamation suit against the newspaper on Wednesday.
Advocate I Berger said the acting editor, Martin Williams, had ignored the fact that McBride had been granted amnesty, thus clearing his criminal record for acts which were politically motivated.
Berger said a high court in Mozambique withdrew charges of gun-running against McBride and therefore he had no criminal record.
McBride launched a R3.6m lawsuit against The Citizen for articles published prior to his appointment as the chief of the Ekurhuleni metro police.
The articles stated that he was unsuitable for the position.
McBride has laid 10 charges against the newspaper, five of defamation and five because it impaired his dignity.
Earlier on Wednesday Williams said the published articles stating that McBride was not suitable for the position of chief of metro police in Ekurhuleni, was because of his criminal record that included the bombing of a bar in which 69 people were injured and three killed.
He said McBride was once detained for gun dealing in Mozambique and also had no experience or academic training as a traffic officer.
Because of this he was not suitable for the position as the chief of metro police, said Williams.
The case concerns mainly editorial comment by Williams, and opinion in a column by freelancer Andrew Kenny in September and October 2003.
The blast Williams referred to was at a bar off Durban's beachfront in 1986, while McBride was a cadre in Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the then-banned African National Congress.
In 1998 McBride was arrested in Mozambique on suspicion of arms trafficking. He said he was investigating illegal arms trading.
McBride has two other court cases pending - one regarding a court order against him and five metro police officers not to intimidate three colleagues who allegedly removed him from an accident scene without following proper procedure.
In November, he will face charges in the Pretoria Regional Court of driving under the influence of alcohol, defeating the ends of justice and fraud relating to an accident in Centurion in December.
The case continues.
- SAPA
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