INLSA

Senior advocate Robert McDougall

Leila Samodien

Justice Writer

A FORMER acting judge, who hit Western Cape Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso with a golf cart, is again in hot water because of his antics behind the wheel – this time for drunk driving.

Advocate Robert McDougall, SC, appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court yesterday after his blood alcohol level was found to be four times higher than the legal limit.

It was his first appearance.

This comes more than a year after the authorities pulled him over in a Mercedes- Benz on Ladies Mile in Bergvliet on January 31, 2011.

McDougall, who was not acting on the Bench at the time, was charged with drunk driving at the Diep River police station.

However, he could alternatively face charges of either reckless and negligent driving, driving with excessive amounts of alcohol in his blood or inconsiderate driving.

He was caught with an alcohol concentration level of 0.20g per 100ml of blood.

The legal limit is 0.05g per 100ml of blood.

McDougall, dressed in a blue blazer and tie, appeared calm and confident as he left the magistrate’s court yesterday morning following a postponement of the matter to March 16 for a plea bargain.

Speaking to the Cape Times about his court appearance, McDougall said the matter had taken so long to come before court because it had taken months to process his blood sample.

“It’s been such a long time since it happened. I can understand why people would be

interested in the Traverso matter.

“It was a freak accident, but not this,” he said, adding that “it was not certain that he would take a plea bargain”.

He also indicated that he would still act on the Bench if asked.

McDougall, 66, made headlines a few months ago when he accidentally struck Traverso with a golf cart during a game at the Royal Cape Golf Club in September.

Traverso was severely injured and was put in a medically induced coma in the intensive care unit at Vincent Pallotti Hospital.

She broke a number of bones, including her pelvis and shoulder, and also suffered a punctured lung.

The two were playing a round of golf on a Sunday morning with Judge Willem Louw when the accident took place. Judge Louw was not injured.

Speaking to the media a week after the incident, McDougall said he and Traverso had played golf together for many years without incident.

He said the two judges had been walking directly in front of him with about a metre between them.

He explained that he had tried to move the cart forward slightly but said that when he had tried to stop he “pressed the accelerator instead of the brakes by mistake” and had hit Traverso.

McDougall, a senior advocate at the Cape Bar who has previously acted on the Bench, was an acting judge when the incident took place.

At the time he said there was “no animosity” towards him at the high court, and that a number of colleagues had called him to lend their support.

While Traverso – who has been serving as deputy judge president since 2011 and is the first woman acting judge president in the country – is still recovering and has not yet returned to court to resume her duties, she is understood to occasionally visit the high court.

leila.samodien@inl.co.za