Case postponed as state calls wrong witnesses

Patricia Edwin | Wednesday October 9, 2013 09:59

Moseki represents 26-year old Oagile Leisimane who is accused of murdering Kelebeletse Senkang in Kgagodi Village on 11 January 2011. He said he was worried that his client would be prejudiced after the state erred.

'My client is personally paying for the costs for himself and this is increasing the costs for him,' he said. He told the prosecutor not to repeat the mistake. 'He should not repeat such kind of attitude where he does not do his job and we will seek another date hoping that the DPP will do their job,' he said.

Ketlogetswe said that the bottom-line was that the state had not followed Rule 5 of Order 68 of the High Court. 'It is clear on what should be done immediately. Within three days of the roll call, witnesses are supposed to be advised. It is not even fair to the witnesses to advise them to come to court only a few days before the trial because they also have their own business to take care of,' said Ketlogetswe.

He warned the state against inconveniencing other parties.

At the beginning of the session, Dick told the court that the state did not have the required witnesses. He blamed the court manager for subpoenaing the wrong witnesses. He said that when he read the list of witnesses that had been subpoenaed, he found that they were those that had already given evidence. 

He said that they had filed their savingram with the registrar in time and the notice was adhered to late. 'On 17 September 2013 a notice of savingram was filed with the registrar and it appears that it was only adhered to on 27 September and received at the DPP on 3 October. This was after the prosecutor inquired from the registrar on the status of the witnesses,' said Dick.

He said that he did not have time to look at the subpoenas until very late as he was engaged with other matters. He said on the morning of the trial when he wanted to prepare the witnesses, he found that they were the wrong ones who had already been admitted into evidence. Dick concurred that the registrar's office did not adhere to Order 68 of the High Court rules.

The trial date has been postponed to 18 March  2014.