Accused ‘not fed for 24 hours’

A Western Cape High Court judge has hit out at police and a senior brigadier for failing to supply food to the accused men in a criminal trial before him.

The men are kept in holding cells during the day and are only released when the trial is under way. Trials generally begin at 10am and run until 4pm, including a lunch break.

Judge James Yekiso issued a stern warning on Wednesday to the police members responsible, saying the accused men were their responsibility. The men claim they were not fed for 24 hours while they were kept in the holding cells.

The men - Luis Momadi, Arnaldo Faife, Rogerio Laice, Sabastine Okele and Thamsanqa Mafuya - are accused of a spate of robberies and housebreakings in Camps Bay. They are also accused of assaulting some of the residents who were at home during the time.

In addition, Momadi is face two counts of rape, among other charges. The matter is now the subject of a trial-within-a-trial.

“It is not desirable that they are involved in the trial when their stomachs are empty,” said Judge Yekiso. “This is my second experience of this nature.”

When the judge was told the reason for the delay was that a new service provider had not delivered the food, he replied: “Once services are outsourced, that does not relieve you of your responsibility.”

Judge

Yekiso said he had earlier also been given an undertaking by police that accused would not be left without food during the day.

One of the men, Laice, took the stand on Wednesday and said police had beaten him.

The trial was postponed to today after prosecutor Denyse Greyling raised concerns about Laice’s testimony and whether some of the words he used were being translated correctly (from Portuguese).

aeysha.kassiem@inl.co.za - Cape Times