Johannesburg - Radovan Krejcir wants out of his Pretoria prison cell because the conditions are unsatisfactory.
His kidnapping, attempted murder and drug-dealing trial stalled on Monday as his defence team revealed they would be applying to the court to have their client moved.
Krejcir is being held in a medical facility at the Kgosi Mampuru II Prison in Pretoria, but his lawyers did not reveal in court which prison they were looking to move him to.
His lawyer, Annelene van den Heever, said outside court they were bringing the application because they were unhappy with the conditions at Kgosi Mampuru II. However, she refused to detail their concerns over the conditions before the application had been finalised.
Proceedings were delayed on Monday as the defence and prosecution were locked in debate in Judge Colin Lamont’s chambers, where it is understood they discussed the application.
When they eventually returned to court, both sides said they had agreed to roll the matter over to today, with prosecutor Louis Mashiane not objecting.
One of the central figures, Doctor Nkosi, was due to continue testifying on Monday.
Nkosi testified last week that he stole and sold a consignment of drugs destined to be shipped to Australia.
Under cross-examination by Van den Heever, he admitted he had never named Krejcir directly in his police statement and spoke only of “the white man”.
He said the investigating officer, Captain Freddy Ramuhala, was responsible for naming Krejcir in the statement.
Nkosi’s brother, Bhekithemba Lukhele, was allegedly kidnapped and tortured by Krejcir and his five co-accused last June because Nkosi had disappeared with drugs.
Nkosi, an employee for a luggage company at OR Tambo, testified last week that the first two trial runs of shipping drugs to Australia failed, with the recipient unable to get the bags.
The third shipment worked and he was paid R70 000, but he decided to steal the fourth consignment and sold it for R100 000, even though he was paid another R70 000 for the fourth bag.
The Star