“Application for further postponement is refused.” These were the words of Magistrate Habib at Booysens Magistrate’s Court on May 14.

This was after the State requested a postponement in the case against five men accused of multiple charges, including murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, and drugs.

The case stems from a shooting that took place in August last year, where a 63-year-old victim was shot dead near Moffat View Police Station.

Only three accused appeared in court on May 14. Accused three was not present, while accused five is still at large. Accused one had his representative; accused two’s representative was not present in court; accused four was represented by Legal Aid.

At first, the docket was not in the courtroom, and the State had to fetch it from the control officer. The defence raised the issue of prejudice to their clients.

They mentioned that they have been coming to court since October last year; however, there has been no movement in the case. They said the State is not ready, while their clients suffer financially every time they come to court, and those working have to take leave.

It was established that the case has a new investigation officer (IO) after the original one was removed; the new IO was not in court. Magistrate Habib gave the State time to phone the new IO to find out about the outstanding documents, including, among others, the post-mortem and ballistic reports.

While the case was adjourned momentarily, Habib established that a letter from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had been inserted into the document without her knowledge.

The said letter, which was dated March 27, stated that not only were post-mortem and ballistic reports still pending, but also the laboratory report of drugs.

It further asked the court to remand the case for three months to finalise all the outstanding documents.

On the last sitting (April 2), Habib made it clear that she was granting the final postponement. Habib explained that every time the accused appears in court, they need to pay for their defence, and they would ultimately run out of money and resort to Legal Aid.

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She then struck the case off the roll after taking all the particulars of the accused on the dock. She said when the State is ready, the accused might be brought back to court, they will either be summoned or a J50 warrant will be issued.

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