File image - All members of one family, the nine accused stand in the dock in the Pretoria North child porn case in the Pretoria North regional court. Picture: Etienne Creux File image - All members of one family, the nine accused stand in the dock in the Pretoria North child porn case in the Pretoria North regional court. Picture: Etienne Creux
Pretoria - A Pretoria North magistrate who was asked to recuse himself on the grounds he was biased towards the State and insensitive to the needs of the accused, on Tuesday found these allegations to be defamatory and unfounded.
The application for recusal was brought in November last year by advocate Naas de Jager, who represents one of nine family members accused of running a child pornography syndicate.
In the application, De Jager alleged that his client, the grandfather of the family, would be prejudiced by magistrate Pieter Nel’s bias. He also claimed that Nel had complained to Legal Aid SA that he (De Jager) had no locus standi (right to appear) for accused number one, which delayed the case several times.
Further allegations concerned Nel’s “attitude” on March 1 last year when he apparently refused to listen to accused number one (the grandfather) who was trying to tell him that he was not feeling well. The accused later collapsed in his cell after court had been adjourned and was taken to hospital for treatment.
The accused – who are all out on bail of R15 000 each – face 23 preliminary charges that include rape, compelled rape, grooming, and producing child pornography. They were arrested on a smallholding near Hammanskraal in December 2010. Their case has been delayed several times due to the constant change of Legal Aid SA lawyers.
In Nel’s judgment yesterday, he read from an article titled, “Protocol to be followed in a Regional Court when Legal Aid is involved”.
Nel said Legal Aid SA was a separate legal entity and he had no involvement with it. It was not the court’s responsibility to take care of medical needs of accused, he said.
Nel also stated that De Jager had no substantial grounds to prove the “very serious and unfounded” allegations against him, therefore the recusal request was turned down.
The accused are the grandfather, 60, and grandmother, 59, who lived on a smallholding in Lusthof, north of Pretoria; a man, 36, and his wife, 28, who lived on a smallholding nearby; the grandfather’s brother, 63, wife, 45, and son, 30; and the son-in-law. They will be back in court on May 10.
Pretoria News