Judge orders magistrate to deliver Terblanche judgment
A magistrate’s obligation to deliver swift judgment in a formal bail application supersedes his right to go on leave.
HeraldLIVE reports that this was the crux of the order made in the Eastern Cape High Court (Gqeberha) yesterday.
Magistrate Kriban Pillay has until 23 December to pass judgment on alleged wife killer Arnold Terblanche’s latest bail application, despite going on leave on Friday.
Judgment on Terblanche’s second bid for bail was postponed until 19 January, but his attorney, Peter Daubermann, brought an application for the postponement to be set aside, arguing that his client would be prejudiced by the long delay.
Besides wanting the postponement set aside, Daubermann wanted the judgment to be made within five working days from the judge’s order.
After hearing arguments by state attorney Leonie Hart, on behalf of Pillay, and state advocate Marius Stander, on behalf of the DPP, Judge Mandela Makaula gave Pillay until the end of next week to deliver his judgment.
Terblanche is accused of murdering his estranged wife Vicki, along with her boyfriend Reinhardt Leach, and his friend Dylan Cullis, in October 2021.
During yesterday’s High Court proceedings, Hart argued Terblanche would not be prejudiced by the extended postponement due to his arrest for allegedly conspiring to kill his co-accused in his wife’s murder, and even if bail was granted he would remain in custody as the second matter’s bail application was still pending.
She said it was highly unlikely that the second matter’s bail application would make any real progress before 19 January, reports HeraldLIVE.
Daubermann argued that regardless of the second pending case, each case had to be dealt with separately.
In response to the arguments, Makaula raised his own heavy workload as an example and said he would have to ‘burn the midnight oil’ to ensure he delivered timely judgments on the matters brought before him.
He said, as with himself, the magistrate chose to accommodate the matters brought before him and therefore had an obligation to deliver swift judgments.
He said work came first and Pillay’s right to leave did not trump his obligation to deliver a judgment, regardless of the pending matter against Terblanche.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
