Johannesburg - An acting magistrate is in hot water for verbally abusing an accused by telling him things such as “you think speaking English is being smart” and irregularly convicting and sentencing him to six months’ imprisonment.
He found 32-year-old Nehemia Mashego guilty of “failure to appear in court” and sentenced him to direct imprisonment.
Mashego has already spent five months in jail. His troubles came after a second failure to attend his trial, in which he stood accused of damaging a window and making verbal threats.
A senior magistrate at the Bushbuckridge Magistrate’s Court, where the acting magistrate was stationed, sent the matter on special review at the Mpumalanga High Court after becoming concerned that Mashego’s case was not handled procedurally.
Judge Vincent Ratshibvumo this week delivered a review judgment scathing of the magistrate he did not name, despite naming all other roleplayers in the matter.
He said the magistrate’s foremost irregularity was that he failed to send his ruling against Mashego to a superior court for a review.
The Criminal Procedure Act compelled the magistrate to do this because first, his experience did not exceed seven years and secondly, he sentenced an unrepresented Mashego to six months’ imprisonment.
In his submission to Judge Ratshibvumo, the magistrate conceded that the case was subject to automatic review and said he made a mistake.
“It was due to an error and/or oversight on my part due to workload,” he stated.
But this defence did not hold water, Judge Ratshibvumo found. “For the magistrate to simply put it in one line saying, ‘it was an error and/or oversight on my part due to workload’ leaves much to be desired,” he said.
“The workload magistrates face daily is not unique to one office.”
Mashego stood to suffer “great and unexplained injustice” had the senior magistrate not picked up the irregularity, said the judge.
“Failure to have this matter submitted on review was a gross irregularity which denied the review court of an opportunity to rectify any injustice the accused may have suffered.
“In just over a month from today (this week Tuesday), the accused would have served his full sentence without an opportunity to be considered for parole as he remains an awaiting-trial prisoner with no bail,” Judge Ratshibvumo said.
He set aside Mashego’s conviction and sentence.
Judge Ratshibvumo also found fault with the magistrate using unsavoury language during communication with Mashego. “Stand up. This is not a tavern,” Mashego was told.
The magistrates also told Mashego that, “You see, now you are going to waste our time because you think speaking English is being smart”.
The National Prosecuting Authority brought the magistrate’s unsavoury language to Judge Ratshibvumo’s attention. Judge Ratshibvumo found the magistrate’s utterances unbecoming. He referred the magistrate to the Mpumalanga office of the chief magistrate for possible action.
The Star