The case will stay in the Cape Town Regional Court, where it has languished for years, but it now enters the phase of getting trial ready.The Covid-19 pandemic slowed down court processes; the defence submitted representations to the Director of Public Prosecutions and also successfully applied for some charges to be withdrawn because they lacked specific dates and the prosecutor changed.
The purpose of pre-trial preparations is to make sure the prosecutor and the defence have everything they need so that the trial can run smoothly, and the move usually involves several more appearances before a trial can proceed. At his last appearance, the court heard that Breytenbach might make further representations. But he has abandoned this, so matters should move faster.Breytenbach was arrested in December 2019 after allegations surfaced in the My Only Story podcast by writer Deon Wiggett.However, on application, four of the charges were provisionally withdrawn.
Breytenbach's lawyer stated that he could not prepare a proper defence when a whole year was given as the time period for the alleged offences.He needed more specific dates, arguing that the period of a year meant he would have to find alibis for every single day of the stated year. His pre-trial appearance at the Regional Court will be on 25 July.In times of uncertainty you need journalism you can trust.
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Source: eNCA - 🏆 49. / 51 Read more »