By ZELDA VENTER High Court Reporter
A senior regional court magistrate who had twice been referred for disciplinary measures for her "outrageous" conduct, has again been referred to the Magistrate's Commission for investigation.
The Pretoria High Court yesterday said the commission must initiate the appropriate disciplinary measures against Magistrate Mitzi Schutte of Benoni.
Her conduct on the Bench in one of the cases resulted in three convicted murderers, who probably would have faced a life imprisonment, walking the streets as free men.
Schutte also addressed a witness in a criminal case as "hey wena" and during the trial made remarks such as "oh, for crying out loud" and in irritation at some stage commented "for crying in a bucket".
Quoting some of her remarks in his judgment, Acting Judge W F Pienaar said Schutte is clearly demonstrative of a presiding officer who is meddlesome, not only with the prosecution, but also with the defence and the interpreter.
"Suffice to state that the presiding magistrate has not done her office proud," the judge said.
The magistrate's commission should address "this extremely serious situation expeditiously".
Judge Pienaar said it was not the first time that Schutte's conduct had been referred to the commission. Judgments by Judge Eberhardt Bertelsmann and Judge Andre Louw had referred her to the commission in the past.
Both judges had to overturn the verdicts of the accused in those cases as they did not have a fair trial due to her interference in court with all the parties.
This time the court turned down the appeal of Thokozani Ndlangamandla, who appealed against his conviction of attempted murder and his seven-year sentence. The court did, however, lessen the sentence with two years.
But Judge Pienaar said in his judgment that he "deemed it appropriate to air his utter dismay with the demeanour of the presiding magistrate and the manner in which she conducted herself during the trial".
He referred to certain passages in the record, which he quoted verbatim. As the victim tried to explain his movements on the day on which he was stabbed by the accused, the magistrate said "O, for crying out loud," before she told him she did not want to know each and every movement he had made. She repeated the phrase several times during the trial.
At one stage Schutte reprimanded the witness as he did not use the services of his interpreter and told him: "Baba, can you please speak Shangaan... this is not a court where you speak some kind of strange fanagalo."
Speaking Afrikaans to him at another stage, she addressed him as 'Hey wena."
When the victim tried to explain how he jumped over a fence after he was stabbed during a drunken brawl, the magistrate told the prosecutor: "I know communication is one of the lazy hobbies in society, but just enquire from him what in God's name does he mean by jump."
As the prosecutor tried to establish from a witness how much she had drunk that day, the impatient magistrate said: "How much did you drink, throw down your throat?"
When the witness said she drank "a bucket" the irritated magistrate exclaimed: "For crying in a bucket."
The witness explained it was sorghum beer, to which the magistrate replied: "They put anything in it (even) battery acid. I do not know what the hell else, but anyway... "
Expressing his disapproval of this behaviour, the judge yesterday said this magistrate had been "admonished by this court in the past, but she continues to ignore such admonishments in a manner contemptuous of this court".
He said everyone in court - from the accused to the officials - are entitled to be dealt with in a dignified manner. Schutte's conduct constitutes a grave irregularity impacting negatively on the administration of justice, he said.
Danie Schoeman of the Magistrate's Commission said they will look into the matter as soon as they receive the judgment. He could not say what had happened to the earlier complaints against Schutte, but said he would find out from the ethical committee on inquiries.