Pretoria - Chris Hani killer Clive Derby-Lewis has been acquitted of “possession of a prohibited substance”.
Apparently friends visiting him had left a box of Amarula liqueur chocolates and other goodies in a bag.
Derby-Lewis’s wife Gaye said a departmental official who came into the room looked into the bag and discovered the chocolates.
“He accused Clive of having alcohol in his room and confiscated the box and he was charged internally. Clive tried to explain that he had no idea what was in the bag, but the next thing he was slapped with a charge sheet.”
Gaye said she had to call in the help of attorney, Julian Knight, who in turn called in a chocolate expert to testify that the treats in fact contained no alcohol.
Derby-Lewis was acquitted.
“I just don’t know how they can subject him to this. It’s ridiculous. You can have 100 boxes of Amarula, you won’t even get tipsy,” Gaye said.
Knight confirmed the incident and said he was acquitted on the strength of the expert’s evidence that liqueur chocolates can never be a prohibited substance.
After the hearing, Knight donated the box to the prison officials to eat the evidence.
Knight said he will head back to court on May 25 to try to secure Derby-Lewis’s release.
They will ask the court to review Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha’s refusal earlier this year to grant the 79-year-old Derby-Lewis medical parole.
The parties met Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba last week and he gave permission that the matter be set down as a special motion on May 25.
The judge gave the parties strict timelines in which to file their court papers. Correctional Services has until the end of this month to file its opposing papers.
Judge Ledwaba made it clear that the non-availability of counsel representing any of the parties will not be allowed as a reason for the matter not to go ahead.
Knight told the Pretoria News the matter should not last longer than a day.
“The doctors all agree he is dying and the minister’s advisory board recommended parole. It is astonishing that it was refused. At 79 he should have been placed on ordinary parole ages ago,” Knight said.
In terms of the Correctional Services Act, a prisoner who is over 65 and has already served 15 years of his sentence, qualified for ordinary parole.
Asked how Derby-Lewis was doing, Knight said: “Not well. He is dying. It’s as simple as that.”
The man sentenced to life for the 1993 killing of SACP leader Chris Hani had been in jail for 22 years. He has been in hospital for nearly a year, suffering from, among others, lung cancer. Doctors have said he is inoperable.
Gaye Derby-Lewis said her husband is pinning his hopes on the forthcoming application after five have failed.
Pretoria News