An application questioning the validity of a police search-and-seizure warrant used to uncover an illegal gambling operation in George last year has been dismissed in the Western Cape High Court.

The suit had been brought by Vorster Interior Products CC, which said in court papers that ‘the warrant is overboard because it does not prescribe with any exactitude what or who must be searched in terms of the warrant’, reports the Cape Argus.

In December last year police in George carried out a clandestine raid on premises owned by Vorster Interior Products as part of an intelligence-driven operation involving the Western Cape Gambling Board.

During the operation computers and monitors were confiscated as investigators believed that they were being used as part of an online gambling operation.

Dismissing the case, Judge Derek Wille said: ‘In my view the warrant carefully regulates what must be searched. Besides, there is no value in the applicant’s contention that the warrant is silent on the identity of the person to conduct the search. This contention is simply incorrect as the warrant identifies Warrant Officer Francois Steyn, who delivered the warrant. The ultimate test is whether the police official authorised to execute the warrant remains in effective and overall control of the search-and-seizure operation. This ensures that there can be no room for abuse.’

‘No doubt exists on the facts that the warrant dictated Officer Steyn was to be in effective and overall control of the operation.’

Full Cape Argus report

Judgment