Motata 'may' have been sober

2008-09-04 22:43

Johannesburg - It is possible that Judge Nkola Motata was sober at the time of his accident, the SABC reported on Thursday.

This emerged during cross-examination of the State's expert witness, Professor Michael James Stewart, in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court.

Motata crashed his Jaguar into a wall on January 6 2007, allegedly while drunk.

His legal team disputes the accuracy of blood samples taken from him which were tested three hours after the accident, the broadcaster said.

The law prescribes that blood samples must be taken within two hours following an accident.

On Wednesday, Stewart testified to using what he called the back extrapolation method and was then able to determine Motata's blood alcohol level at the time of the incident. In this case it was 0.2g, while the legal limit is 0.05.

Under cross-examination, Stewart conceded it was possible that Motata's alcohol levels were below the limit at the time of the crash, the SABC reported.

This contrasted with his earlier statement that he used only scientifically accepted criteria when he conducted the tests.

Stewart testified that, giving Motata the benefit of the doubt, the tests still showed conclusively that his blood alcohol levels were well above the legal limit.

The case was postponed until September 15. Motata is in the meantime drawing a full salary while on special leave, pending the completion of his court case.

He has so far received an estimated R1.2m since his arrest last year.

- SAPA