One of three accused very dissatisfied in court
There were three accused in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Wednesday that created and maintained more confusion than a three cup shuffle magic trick. We all know that one: you have one coin and three cups and you shuffle them around. The other person in the room has the job of guessing under which cup the coin is.
Wednesday’s court appearance brought three accused before court. They were Messrs Mangini, Nkosi and Ncibi and all three stand accused of raping the same two women. The procedure in court is a standard procedure: the accused are addressed as accused number one, accused number two and so forth. This is a practical arrangement and has been this way for some time. The accused sit in the accused dock in this order as well, enabling the court officials to address the right one at the right time.
This simple procedure was complicated when Magini, Nkosi and Ncibi swopped places before entering the dock. The three huddled and seemed very reluctant to enter the dock. The magistrate, Mr Willie Wilkens, had to intervene. “Listen, accused number one, Mangini, you go in first. Go stand there. Accused number two, Nkosi, please do the same. Accused number three, Ncibi, please join them.” The order was confirmed and the case was postponed to January 20, 2015.
The first accused kept looking around with a dissatisfied facial expression and rose his hand. The translator voiced his concern. “Your worship, accused number one has an issue,” she said. “He is very upset that he is called accused number one. He asks why this is the case, because he was not arrested first.” Mr Wilkens patiently explained that the order of the accused holds no prejudice and that the prosecutor decides in which order the names are called. The accused were dismissed.
