Durban businessman Prince Sifiso Zulu was refused an extension of his bail and leave to appeal against his conviction by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday.
He made his two applications under armed escort to Judge Pieter Koen and acting Judge Theba Mjoli.
Koen said Zulu had shown a nonchalant attitude to the legal processes.
On Wednesday May 9, he was served with a notice to surrender within 48-hours. Two days later, he handed himself over to authorities.
Koen said instead of surrendering last Friday, he had only done so on Saturday, “when it suited him”.
Asking for leave to apply to the Supreme Court of Appeal, Thabani Mosuku, for Zulu, said the Durban Regional Court and the Pietermaritzburg High Court, which concurred with the trial court on appeal, had wrongly presumed that Zulu was the driver of his car which caused the of deaths of two people.
However, Zulu had not been believed by the trial court.
Mosuku said Zulu would now petition the chief justice for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
State advocate Sundesh Sankar opposed bail on the grounds that there was a minimal chance of the petition being granted and that Zulu had the means to abscond and had travelled overseas.
Koen said the slim chance of the petition succeeding was a consideration in refusing bail.
In such applications, the court would treat any applicant exactly the same, whether he was a celebrity or a nondescript.
He was not swayed by the huge publicity which surrounded Zulu's trial, his delay in handing himself over and the apparent preferential treatment in prison.
Instead of being incarcerated with other prisoners in Westville Prison, Zulu was reportedly being kept in the high care unit in which convicted fraudster Shabir Shaik stayed.
In 2008, Zulu's car went through a red robot and crashed into a vehicle, killing two and injuring eight others. - Sapa