Court defers judgment in Okah’s wife case
A Johannesburg
Magistrates’ Court yesterday deferred judgment to November 30, in an
inquiry being conducted on Azuka Okah over the ringing of her cell
phone in court.
On October 21, Mrs.
Okah was attending the bail application hearing of her husband, who is
facing terrorism related charges in connection with the October 1
bombings in Nigeria, when her cell phone rang during proceedings.
The Magistrate,
Hein Louw, had last week fixed judgment in the case for November 18, on
the expectation that he would have delivered judgment in the bail
application of her husband, Henry Okah, before then.
The Magistrate had
said that due to the closeness of Mrs. Okah to her husband, he chose to
give judgment in her case, after dealing with her husband’s matter.
However, the court
was unable to deliver its verdict in Mr. Okah’s bail bid at the last
sitting on November 12, and has fixed it for tomorrow, November 19.
Mrs. Okah’s lawyer,
Rudi Klause, had during the inquiry, told the court that she was under
pressure, and had actually placed her phone in silent mode until the
court stood down the case. He, therefore, apologised for the error,
which he said was not intentional, though negligent.
Shaun Abrahams, the
prosecution counsel, had said the court should use its discretion in
the matter, as Mr. Klause had referred to it as a case of negligence.
The judge had said
his court had never had such huge number of disruptions before, and he
had even overlooked some of them. He said he understood the pressure
Mrs. Okah was under, but added he would give judgment in the matter.
Judgment in the
bail application was stalled on November 12, as the Magistrate handling
the case said CD recordings of proceedings were retrieved from him for
transcription while he was preparing his verdict.
Mr. Louw,
therefore, fixed today, November 19, to deliver the judgment, by which
time, he said, he would have finished with two other outstanding
judgments he is working on, which also demanded urgent action.
The Magistrate said
apart from the CD request, another issue which affected the delivery of
the verdict was that he lost access to his electronic library with
which he tried to review some case laws, and he was told it was a
national problem.
Mr. Okah is
presently held in a single cell at the Johannesburg Prison. He is,
among other issues, charged with delivering, placing, and detonation of
explosives, and conspiring with others to do so, in connection with the
explosions which claimed no fewer than 12 lives.
Mr. Okah, who
maintains he is innocent, is asking the court for bail while the state
is opp osing the application. He has been in custody since October 2, a
day after the explosions, and first appeared in court on October 4.
NAN
