Johannesburg - “Are you shouting at me? Are you shouting at me? I’m not your boy!” retorted advocate Jabulani Mlotshwa, after defence lawyer Darryl Furman angrily told the prosecutor he’d asked “for the docket four times”.
Furman was representing forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan, who appeared briefly in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday for two separate cases.
Thespat took place just before Magistrate Gail Pretorius entered the courtroom for the first case, where O’Sullivan is being charged for fraud for allegedly misrepresenting himself.
This is the fourth criminal case opened against the forensic investigator.
O’Sullivan jumped into the argument, saying he was going to report Mlotshwa for misconduct.
“I’ve opened a docket against you; I’m going to report you! This is the problem when you have criminals running the justice system. I’m not going to take this crap,” said a furious O’Sullivan.
“How do you expect me to run a trial without the docket?” asked Furman.
Mlotshwa snapped: “You think you can intimidate me like you intimidate the complainants? Threaten what you like.”
Several clerks suggested the court be cleared until the case commenced, but it was cut short as the magistrate entered.
The defence reiterated to Pretorius that he’d asked for the docket “no less than four times”.
“How can I consider the case without seeing the docket?” Furman asked again. The magistrate agreed and postponed the case to September 30.
In the second case, O’Sullivan and co-accused Melissa Naidu are being accused of kidnapping, extortion and fraud. In an affidavit The Star has seen, Cora van der Merwe alleged O’Sullivan threatened her in October 2014.
“I surmised he was a policeman. He said if I didn’t come with him, I would spend the night in jail and there was a possibility I wouldn’t see my children again.”
Van der Merwe, who was employed at personal injury law firm Ronald Bobroff and Partners, alleged that Bobroff’s firm was overcharging clients.
It is alleged that O’Sullivan and Naidu were seemingly investigating who had exposed this information.
Van der Merve further alleged that when she arrived at work on October 13, 2014 she was locked out of her computer. She called Bobroff, told him about it and he said it would be looked into. She was subsequently called into the boardroom where she met O’Sullivan and Naidu.
The case was postponed to September 8 for the defence to obtain copies of the docket.