Cape Town - The Western Cape Directorate for Public Prosecutions is to decide how to deal with a man who tried to buy a drunken driving investigation docket, in order to make the drunken driving charge against himself “disappear”.
Antonio Manuel Rodrigus Alves, 53, of Edgemead in Cape Town’s northern suburbs, appeared again in the Goodwood District Court on Wednesday, before magistrate Sean Lea.
Initially, he faced a drunken driving charge, but he is now charged with corruption as well.
An unexplained “breach of trust” recently caused defence lawyer Andrew Joyce to withdraw from the case, and Alves then requested free legal representation, in the person of legal aid lawyer Mohamed Moosa.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, defence attorney Niel Slabber, who earlier had secured Alves’s release on bail of R5 000, informed the court that he was back as Alves’s lawyer.
Initially, there were two separate cases against Alves – one involving the drunk driving matter and the other the corruption case.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, prosecutor Benito Adonis told the court that both cases would be joined as one.
The docket had been forwarded to the DPP, for instructions, he said.
In the alternative to the drunken driving charge, it is alleged that Alves drove with a blood-alcohol level of 0,27 percent (the limit is 0,05).
In the corruption case, it is alleged that Alves “bought” the drunk driving docket for R2 500, from a police official – unaware that the transaction was a “sting” operation.
The sting happened at the McDonald’s outlet in Bothasig, and Alves was arrested in his car, with the docket in his possession.
Alves was warned to return to court on March 11.
African News Agency
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