Journo questioned judge over affairs
2011-11-17 19:01
Cape Town - An e-mail in which a journalist confronted acting judge Patrick Maqubela about his reputed extra-marital affairs was handed to the Western Cape High Court on Thursday.
It confirmed to the now dead judge that the Sowetan newspaper intended publishing a report about Maqubela's flings.
The e-mail was handed to the court during the trial of the judge's widow, Thandi, and businessman Vela Mabena, who are charged with murdering the judge. They have pleaded not guilty.
The judge's secretary, Joy Ely-Hanslo, told the court that she received the e-mail and that it related to the judge's "personal life".
She said she handed it to the judge, who said she should leave it with him and that he "thought he knew what it was about".
In the e-mail, Sowetan journalist Cecil Motsepe said: "We have spoken to a couple of women who said you have made sexual advances to them."
The unnamed women told the Sowetan that the judge had "showered them with money, despite his being married".
Motsepe said the newspaper was in possession of an invoice indicating that he had visited the Grant strip club, where he had spent R1 650.
The e-mail added: "We also have collected sex boosting pills from hotels that you have visited.
"Is it true that you are bedding a galaxy of girls as young as 20, despite the fact that you are 60 and married?"
The e-mail asked the judge how he explained SMS messages sent to him in which the girls call him "love, sweetiepie and baby" and asked him for money.
It also ended with a question: "Does your wife know about these?"
The trial continues.
- SAPA
