British soccer fan Pavlos Joseph was a free man after paying a R750
admission-of-guilt fine, the Cape Town World Cup court ruled today.
Londoner Joseph was charged after entering the English team’s
dressing room in Cape Town following a match on June 18.
His advocate, Craig Webster, told the magistrate that Joseph’s
legal team had made representations to the Western Cape Director of Public
Prosecutions.
These representations had been successful in that the Director of
Public Prosecutions had agreed to allow him to pay an admission-of-guilt
fine.
Joseph had paid the R750 on Tuesday for a contravention of section
6, subsection 1, of the Fifa Act, being in a designated area without an
accreditation card for that area.
He asked that the “charges” against Joseph be withdrawn in his
absence. The magistrate agreed. Joseph was not in court today.
Meanwhile, British journalist Simon Wright (44) was released on R3 000 bail after his arrest in connection with the security breach in the England
soccer team’s dressing room, police said.
Police arrested Wright on Monday and charged him with defeating the
ends of justice and contravening the Immigration Act.
Brigadier Sally De Beer said Wright was granted bail when he
appeared in the dedicated World Cup court in Cape Town at 11pm on Monday. He was
due back in court today.
Police believe Joseph’s entry to the dressing room was a plot
“orchestrated” with Wright to paint World Cup security in a bad light.
This was according to national police commissioner General Bheki
Cele, who addressed the media on World Cup security in Pretoria on
Tuesday.
“The police have reason to believe that this incident was
orchestrated and involved the co-operation of a number of individuals,” said
Cele.
Video footage obtained during an initial investigation backed the
theory.
After the incident, the Sunday Mirror reported that when Joseph saw
former England captain David Beckham in the change rooms, he said he needed the
toilet, then added: “David, we’ve spent a lot of money getting here.
This is a
disgrace.
What are you going to do about it?”
England had drawn 0-0 with Algeria.
