The pupils involved in the school sex video scandal could still find themselves in court facing criminal charges.

Cape Town - Two boys and a girl involved in the high school sex video scandal could still find themselves in court facing criminal charges.

On Thursday, police confirmed the case was opened against the three youngsters.

“We can confirm a case was reported,” police spokesperson Captain Frederick van Wyk said.

“This is a very sensitive case and no further comment will be made on the matter.”

The Grade 11 learners were expelled from school last year after they were recorded having sex in an empty classroom.

A week after the illicit clip went viral at their school and across the Cape, a teacher notified the school principal and the matter was reported to police.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the three students, who were 17 and 16 years old at the time of the incident, have not yet been prosecuted.

“There hasn’t been a court case yet. The police have charged the learners under the Films and Publications Act,” said NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila.

“A docket was brought to us and we returned it to the police for further investigation. They [police] have just returned it to us.

“We haven’t made a decision on whether to prosecute yet,” adds Ntabazalila.

This week, the Western Cape Education Department said they were not aware of the sex clip until it was brought to their attention by the Daily Voice.

WCED spokesperson Bronagh Casey confirmed the learners were expelled after the shocking incident.

In May last year, the brazen teens apparently bunked to have sex between classes.

The 17-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl were recorded by a third learner, also 16. In the lengthy video, the girl is seen sitting on the boy’s lap.

The boy has his pants pulled down while the girl’s skirt is hiked up.

While the boy looks into the camera, showing gang hand signs more than once, the girl does not know she is being recorded.

Towards the end of the footage, the girl looks up and quickly covers her face while shouting “yoh!”

Casey said: “The principal followed all the necessary procedures.

“In cases such as this, the incident must be reported to the police.”

She said none of the pupils appealed the expulsion.

“None of the three learners appealed during the required time frame,” she added.

“Therefore the matter is now closed by the education department.

“Any legal prosecutions that take place are separate to the school disciplinary procedure.”

Daily Voice

A schoolboy was slightly injured when a stone smashed through the window of the MyCiTi bus in Table View.

Cape Town - A schoolboy was slightly injured when a stone smashed through the window of a MyCiTi bus in Table View last night.

The 16-year-old, whose name was not released, was in the bus as it went along Blaauwberg Road at about 7pm, said the Cape Town City Council mayoral committee member for transport, roads and stormwater, Brett Herron.

“The passenger suffered relatively minor injuries from broken glass. It is very disappointing and shocking for this to have happened,” he said.

A formal complaint has been lodged with police. Metro police officers had been sent to patrol the route, Herron said, adding that the attack was the first on a MyCiTi bus in the Table View area. “The City of Cape Town condemns this criminal act and calls on anyone with information to come forward. The city will not tolerate any acts of criminality which put the lives of its staff or its passengers at risk. The city wishes the injured passenger a speedy and full recovery,” Herron said.

City spokeswoman Kylie Hatton said the teenager was slightly injured by glass, not the stone which shattered the window, and had been sent for a medical check-up.

aziz.hartley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

A couple accused of killing a policeman and burying his body in their backyard have appeared in the Western Cape High Court.

Cape Town -

A couple accused of killing a policeman and burying his body in their backyard appeared in the Western Cape High Court on Friday.

Barnabas Sentiwe and his wife Phumza Veli were dressed casually and seemed sullen as their pre-trial conference was called up.

The court heard the defence team had been given further particulars, but had not yet consulted with the pair.

The matter was postponed until next Friday.

The couple had been the neighbours of 29-year-old Constable Monwabisi Mnyombolo in Extension 6, Mfuleni, Cape Town.

It is the State's case that Sentiwe got into an argument with Mnyombolo at the couple's house in October 2009, accusing him of having an affair with his wife.

Sentiwe allegedly stabbed the police officer.

In 2010, he sold his house to Moses Njovana.

Njovana's wife saw a pair of tracksuit pants in the ground next to the house in 2011 and when he dug them up found bones inside.

Police were called to the scene and a shallow grave with more human bones was unearthed.

Forensic testing revealed the bones belonged to the constable and a post-mortem revealed he was stabbed in the head.

The State has charged Sentiwe with murder and his wife as an accessory after the fact. - Sapa

An warrant of arrest will be issued for a perlemoen syndicate accused who failed to appear in the Western Cape High Court.

Cape Town - An warrant of arrest will be issued for a perlemoen syndicate accused who failed to appear in the Western Cape High Court on Friday.

Yu-Chen Chao was to have appeared before Judge Robert Henney for a pre-trial conference.

Prosecutor Helene Booysen said the investigating officer had tried contacting him telephonically, but there was no answer.

Henney said he would issue a warrant of arrest later in the day. Yu-Chen's bail of R100,000 was also provisionally forfeited to the State.

He and 18 others are accused of perlemoen smuggling and face charges including racketeering and fraud.

One of the accused, 50-year-old Yen-Chang Ku, a Chinese national, is sought by Interpol. The matter resumes on March 22.

Sapa

The City of Cape Town has called for public comment on its draft social development strategy, an official said.

Cape Town - The City of Cape Town has called for public comment on its draft social development strategy, an official said on Friday.

Mayor Patricia de Lille's spokesman, Solly Malatsi, said the strategy addressed poverty, inequality, and other social ills.

It also encouraged people to take part in their own development.

“The strategy outlines what the city is doing, plans to do, and shows where partners, such as businesses, communities, and civil society, can contribute,” Malatsi said.

The strategy had five objectives - to maximise income-generating opportunities for those at risk of exclusion; promote community safety; increase access to infrastructure and services for the vulnerable; foster social integration; and mobilise resources for social development.

Citizens, civil society, and other parties could visit their nearest library, sub-council office, or go to the city's website, to offer input.

Sapa

Thandi Maqubela’s behaviour after the death of her husband, Acting Judge Patrick Maqubela, was “inconsistent with innocence”.

Cape Town - Thandi Maqubela’s behaviour after the death of her husband, Acting Judge Patrick Maqubela, was “inconsistent with innocence”, Judge John Murphy found on Thursday in the Western Cape High Court.

Murphy ruled against an application for a discharge involving Maqubela, accused of the murder of her husband, and of fraud and forgery, and Vela Mabena, accused of the acting judge’s murder.

Murphy said that Maqubela’s behaviour after her husband’s death was “inconsistent with innocence” and if Mabena was granted a discharge, it would compromise the proper administration of justice.

Patrick Maqubela’s body was discovered in the main bedroom of his Bantry Bay flat on June 7, 2009, two days after the State alleges he was murdered by Maqubela and Mabena, who allegedly suffocated him, possibly using cling film.

Marius Broeksma, for Maqubela, yesterday said he believed there were two “fatal flaws” in the State’s case.

He said these were :

* That a forensic pathologist, Sipho Mfolozi, who conducted a post-mortem on Patrick Maqubela’s body, had been unable to establish the cause of his death.

* The value of evidence in the form of the cling film found at the scene, and which could have been used to suffocate Patrick Maqubela, was questionable as the results of tests done on it were confusing.

Randall Titus, for Mabena, said none of the State’s 46 exhibits bore the DNA of Mabena, and while Mabena had been at Patrick Maqubela’s complex in the time frame within which he may have died, he had been “at the wrong place at the wrong time”.

Murphy said the State’s medical evidence of the cause of death was less than satisfactory and there was a possibility, not probability, that Patrick Maqubela was suffocated.

He said when it came to the cause of his death, the State had built its case most strongly on cellphone use, which showed where people were and at what time.

Cellphone records indicated Maqubela may have been aware of her husband’s death and tried to conceal this.

In a statement to police, the judge said, Maqubela had said her husband left his complex at 6am to attend a “mysterious meeting with unknown persons” at an adjacent hotel.

He had later not gone to work, had made no attempts to contact colleagues to say he would be absent and had then gone back to his apartment, where he died of a heart attack.

Murphy said this version “carries an air of improbability”. “It bolster’s the State’s submission (that Maqubela has a case to answer to).”

Murphy found evidence against Mabena “less compelling”. But he said shortly before and after Patrick Maqubela’s death, there had been a spike in cellphone communication between Mabena and Maqubela.

After Patrick Maqubela’s death, Mabena had sent her an SMS offering condolences, even though there were no previous SMSes about his death. “The unusual timing and content of communication calls for an explanation,” Murphy said.

The matter was postponed to Tuesday.

caryn.dolley@inl.co.za

Cape Times

This was one of the arguments before the Supreme Court of Appeal as the police minister appeals Fred Van der Vyver’s civil victory.

Bloemfontein - Fingerprint lifts were swopped to “fabricate” evidence against actuary Fred van der Vyver, his lawyers have argued.

But the legal team for the minister of police sketched a different scenario – that it could have been “a mistake”.

These were among the arguments before the Supreme Court of Appeal here on Thursday as the minister appealed Van der Vyver’s civil victory against his office.

In a finding in 2011, Western Cape High Court Judge Anton Veldhuizen held that the minister was liable for malicious prosecution.

Advocate Kosie Olivier, SC, arguing for the minister, acknowledged that Constable Elton John Swartz could have made a “mistake”.

This was on the basis of Judge Veldhuizen’s judgment, in which he found that Van der Vyver’s fingerprint, which Swartz collected, had come from a glass, not a DVD cover, and that Swartz had probably made a mistake.

Advocate Dup De Bruyn, SC, representing Van der Vyver, said this was the first time the minister’s lawyers were arguing there had been a “mistake”.

They had previously been “very clear” that there “couldn’t have been a mistake”.

De Bruyn submitted that there wasn’t a “single piece of evidence” that indicated that it had simply been a mistake.

“There is no way an innocent exchange could have taken place,” he told the court.

His argument was that fingerprint lifts had been swopped intentionally, and later added that he wasn’t saying Swartz alone was responsible.

Olivier, however, argued an intentional swop was “impossible” as Swartz did not have several pieces of information – such as how Van der Vyver’s fingerprint looked – at the time.

Olivier said that, at most, Swartz had identified that fingerprint lift incorrectly.

Van der Vyver was acquitted of the murder of his girlfriend, Stellenbosch University student Inge Lotz, in 2007. She was bludgeoned to death in her flat on March 16, 2005.

Van der Vyver is seeking R46 million in damages.

While he has won his civil case on merits – a decision now going through the appeal process – the amount the minister is liable for is subject to another court process.

Van der Vyver was not present during Thursday’s proceedings, but his family travelled to Bloemfontein.

Another major point of contention raised was that of a bloody smear found on Lotz’s bathroom floor.

Captain Bruce Bartholomew steadfastly maintained that it was Van der Vyver’s footprint.

Judge Veldhuizen found Bartholomew had made himself “guilty of inciting the prosecution” because he hadn’t informed the prosecutors of any doubt, despite a number of experts disagreeing with him.

Olivier argued that Bartholomew believed he was right and, according to previous testimony, the prosecutors would have gone ahead with their prosecution without his belief about the blood smear.

De Bruyn argued that, without Bartholomew’s evidence, the State wouldn’t have had a case against his client.

The panel of five judges said they would take time to decide.

leila.samodien@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Nine hundred farmers across the country have applied for exemption from the new minimum wage for farmworkers.

Cape Town - Nine hundred farmers across the country have applied for exemption from the new minimum wage for farmworkers - and, according to estimates, nearly half of the applications are from farmers in the Western Cape.

This was revealed by Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant on Thursday.

In De Doorns - the epicentre of the farmworkers strike - half of the 115 farmers are reported to have applied for exemption.

Black Agricultural Workers Union of SA general secretary Nosey Pieterse said he understood that more than 400 farmers in the province had applied for the exemption.

On Thursday Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich, who was at the forefront of the strike, slammed the move.

“There will be more strikes and bigger political action on the farms,” Ehrenreich said.

Pieterse, who also played a prominent role in the strike, also forecast renewed strikes.

“The workers are angry. They have fought for a new minimum wage for three months. There will be more strikes,” he said.

The strike by farmworkers in 15 Boland towns started in November and was marred by violence that claimed the lives of four people and destroyed property.

Police arrested hundreds of protesters on charges of public violence.

Following negotiations between the government, workers and unions, it was agreed to hike the minimum wage for farmworkers by 52 percent to R105 a day. After this deal, the strike was called off by Cosatu in January.

In terms of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Minister of Labour has the authority to grant an exemption on the grounds of affordability. Farmers who applied for the exemption had to submit financial records and proof that they had consulted workers.

Labour Department spokesman Page Biokanyo said the government would first look at how it could assist farmers before granting any exemption.

Meanwhile, farmers will be paying workers the normal minimum wage of between R69 and R90 until their applications have been processed.

Speaking during a panel discussion at UCT last night, hosted by the Industrial Relations Association of SA, Pieterse said strike-associated violence was the result of years of exploitation of workers and pent-up anger at conditions on farms.

Workers had now “liberated” themselves, but it was important they be unionised.

Agri-SA policy advisor Annelize Crosby said paying R105 a day could force farmers to retrench. But even R150 a day, the workers’ original demand, was not enough to pay a worker. “Because the majority of farmers can’t pay a decent salary, there must be government intervention,” Crosby said.

jason.felix@inl.co.za and jan.cronje@inl.co.za

Cape Times

Three men appeared in the Western Cape High Court in connection with the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a six-year-old girl.

 Cape Town - Three men appeared in the Western Cape High Court on Friday in connection with the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a six-year-old girl.

They stood in the dock for the crimes against Asemahle Ntsabo in Paarl last January.

Their pre-trial conference was postponed for a week.

The defence team requested that their trial be set down for April 8 to May 2.

Ntsabo was playing with friends on January 21 last year when she went missing in Mbekweni.

Her remains were found two months later between bushes near railway tracks in the area.

The trio were linked to the scene by forensic evidence. According to the summary of facts document, Ntsabo was killed by strangulation.

The State alleges that the trio acted in conspiracy to kidnap, kill, and remove the girl's body parts. - Sapa

The City of Cape Town will set up a fake cruise ship accident next week as a disaster exercise.

Cape Town - The City of Cape Town will set up a fake cruise ship accident next week as a disaster exercise, the city's disaster risk management centre said on Friday.

“The exercise will test the preparedness and ability of the authorities and related agencies to respond to an incident involving an international cruise ship running aground,” said spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.

The simulation would be between Mouille Point and Cape Town stadium, between 7am and 1pm on Tuesday.

According to the plan, code-named “Beachy”, the SAS Spioenkop, a frigate on loan from the SA Navy, would act as a cruise liner carrying 106 passengers and crew, on a voyage around the coastline of South Africa to Durban.

The “accident” would take place off-shore of the Mouille Point Lighthouse, and a verification and mass-care centre would be established at the Cape Town Stadium to assist “survivors”.

“Residents living in the vicinity are alerted that the exercise will involve a large contingent of armed forces, law enforcement agencies and emergency and disaster management personnel,” said Solomons-Johannes.

Armed forces will be commanded by the SA National Defence Force and will include the Navy, SA Air Force (SAAF) and the SA Army. - Sapa

Fraud charges against those involved in the proposed mall development at Princess Vlei have been transferred to the Hawks.

Cape Town - The charges of fraud against individuals involved in the proposed shopping mall development at Princess Vlei have been transferred to the Hawks for investigation, police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said on Thursday.

Van Wyk said the charges were being investigated by the Hawks’ commercial fraud division.

The charges were laid by the Princess Vlei Forum, residents opposed to the mall, who say there are “serious irregularities” surrounding the proposed mall.

Meanwhile the provincial government has said anyone who is unhappy with the approval processes around the Princess Vlei shopping mall should take them to court.

The forum maintains that the city council gave rezoning rights to a company called Insight Property Developers Cape, which has since been deregistered, and the forum says these rights cannot be transferred to a new company. A new company appealed to the provincial government to extend the period for which the rezoning was valid. The forum says the rights died when the company was deregistered.

However, the provincial government says they are wrong. Aziel Gangerdine, spokesman for the provincial department of environmental affairs and development planning said yesterday rights granted in terms of town planning legislation to develop the Princess Vlei property were vested in the land, not in a company or individual.

Cape Times

Two men were killed when a heavy-duty crane truck veered off the road near Clanwilliam.

Cape Town - Two men were killed when a heavy-duty crane truck veered off the road near Clanwilliam on Monday morning, a Western Cape health department official said.

Emergency medical services spokeswoman Keri Davids said the truck left the N7 and rolled about 30 metres down a steep slope, throwing a man from the vehicle.

He was found outside the burning, overturned truck.

Davids said a second man was recovered from the cab of the truck and also declared dead on the scene.

The accident took place about 25km outside Clanwilliam. - Sapa

An application to order Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and three others to hand over documents in the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry court matter was postponed.

Cape Town - An application to order Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa and three others to hand over documents in the Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry court matter was postponed in the Western Cape High Court on Monday.

Judge Siraj Desai said he would postpone the application by Western Cape premier Helen Zille and the provincial community safety executive council for a week.

He said this would allow the parties to decide if the matter would be opposed, or if a more “sensible agreement” could be reached.

Zille established the inquiry last August to investigate alleged police inefficiency in the area. Mthethwa opposed this. The matter was heard in the Western Cape High Court and his application for interim relief was dismissed in January.

In the majority judgment handed down, it was concluded that Zille had fully complied with the principles of co-operative government.

The main application to review Zille's decision is pending before the High Court.

In November, Zille and the community safety council served notice on the applicants to provide them with documents they had referred to in their founding papers.

They said these papers were either not annexed to the affidavits delivered in support of the application, or that only extracts of these documents were supplied.

They were entitled to inspect these documents and make copies.

The documents related to affidavits given by Mthethwa, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega, Western Cape police commissioner Arno Lamoer, and civilian secretariat for the police service Jenni Irish-Qhobosheane.

Should these parties fail to comply with such an order, they wanted authorisation to make further applications for the dismissal of the main application with costs.

Mthethwa has lodged a direct appeal to the Constitutional Court against the denial of interim relief.

According to the Cape Argus, the matter was expected to be heard on August 6.

The minister's application would be based on the contents of a minority judgment in his unsuccessful bid to stop the inquiry, which concluded that inter-governmental processes had not been fully complied with.

The commission of inquiry would reportedly not hold public hearings in the interim, but would still allow residents to make statements at the commission offices in Khayelitsha on weekdays between 9am and 1pm. - Sapa

The Rural Development and Land Reform Department says the District Six claimants will return to their homes this year.

Johannesburg - The District Six claimants will return to their homes this year, the Rural Development and Land Reform Department said on Monday.

“Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti told land claimants... that the land claimants who opted for the restoration of their land will this year be able to return to their stands at District Six in Cape Town,” spokesperson Mtobeli Mxotwa said.

Mxotwa said the minister was addressing land claimants in a meeting over the weekend.

“He said the poor people will be given priority by the Social Integration Committee when the empty houses were allocated to the claimants in District Six this year,” he said.

They were urged to register with the committee promptly so they could get their houses “as soon as” this month.

Minister Nkwinti called on the land claimants and their Reference Group to differentiate between the restoration of the land claimants' rights and the business enterprise planned for District Six for its future economic development.

In cases where a person had owned more than one stand, the government would restore one stand and pay financial compensation for other stands.

Land reform beneficiaries, that is people who never lived in District Six before the evictions, would not be considered in the District Six restoration and restitution.

Mxotwa said the restoration of District Six was meant to restore the rights of the people of District Six that were taken away by the apartheid government.

The stands whose owners had opted for financial compensation would be used for business purposes.

Residents were forcibly removed from District Six in the 1960s, following the introduction of the Group Areas Act. - Sapa

Taxi driver Jacob Humphreys has petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal to have his murder convictions and jail term overturned.

Cape Town - Taxi driver Jacob Humphreys - at the wheel when his taxi full of school children was hit by a train at a level crossing - has petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal to have his murder convictions and jail sentence overturned.

Ten children died when Humphreys overtook a line of stationary vehicles waiting at the lowered boom of the Buttskop level crossing at Blackheath on the morning of August 25, 2010, dodged around the boom and collided with an oncoming train.

Four children were also seriously injured.

Humphreys’s lawyers argued in the appeal court in Bloemfontein that he should have been convicted of culpable homicide, not murder, and that the Western Cape High Court had erred in rejecting his version of events.

His lawyers argued that the sentences imposed were “shockingly inappropriate”. In December 2011, Judge Robert Henney convicted Humphreys of 10 counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder.

Humphreys was sentenced to 12 years for each murder, and six years for each attempted murder. With an order that various parts of the sentences run concurrently, his effective jail sentence was 20 years.

Judge Henney denied Humphreys leave to appeal, prompting him to take the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

On Monday, State advocate Susan Galloway argued that Humphreys did not deny State witness evidence of stationary vehicles waiting to cross the level-crossing and that he overtook those vehicles that morning, but simply said he could not remember what happened.

She also argued that the State witnesses corroborated one another, and that Humphreys did not come across as a honest witness. Judge Henney had been correct to reject his evidence that he suffered from temporary amnesia.

“The trial court was correct in finding that Humphreys acted in a goal-directed manner by executing several manoeuvres which required a good amount of skill and concentration. He then conveniently forgets salient parts thereof… ” Galloway said.

The prosecution said that any form of correctional supervision was not an appropriate sentence.

The court now has to decide whether Humphreys’s murder and attempted murder convictions as well as the sentences imposed should stand or be overturned. Judgment was reserved.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

A Mitchells Plain man accused of kidnapping a five-year-old girl is also alleged to have raped her.

Cape Town - A Mitchells Plain man accused of kidnapping a five-year-old girl is also alleged to have raped her.

Desmond Wolmarans, 58, appeared in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court on Monday in connection with the kidnapping of the Tafelsig girl.

When the child did not return home last Wednesday, residents began searching for her. She was found alive, allegedly in Wolmarans’s house, last Friday morning. Wolmarans was not at home, but was found and arrested on Saturday.

For the first time on Monday, the court heard that Wolmarans was facing a charge of rape as well as kidnapping. As a result the girl cannot be named.

Prosecutor Togieda Sambo told the court that the State needed time to investigate whether Wolmarans had previous convictions, pending cases or outstanding warrants for his arrest.

Once his criminal profile had been established the State would decide whether to oppose bail.

A group of residents who helped search for the girl last week were at court to voice their opposition to Wolmarans’s release. They brandished posters that read: “Release him and we will make hell for him in Mitchell’s Plain”, “Keep ourcommunity safe” and “We want justice to be served”.

One of them, Megan Kayster, said residents were very happy that the child had been found “unharmed”.

“We are here (at court) because we don’t want him to come out. He helped search for her and drank coffee with us that day,” Kayster said.

She also thanked the more than 200 friends, family and Bambanani volunteers who had helped look for the girl.

Wolmarans, who has a state-funded Legal Aid lawyer, is due back in court next Monday.

jade.otto@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

An elderly couple has been attacked in their home in Wilderness, Western Cape police said.

Wilderness, Western Cape - An elderly couple has been attacked in their home in Wilderness, Western Cape police said on Tuesday

The attack on Monday followed a similar incident on Sunday, said Captain Bernadine Steyn.

In the latest incident, four men forced open the back door of the home of an 82-year-old man and his wife just before midnight.

“The elderly man and his wife both sustained open wounds during the incident and several items were taken, including cellphones cash and a purse,” said Steyn.

They were taken to a hospital in George where they were in stable conditions, she said.

On Sunday, an 81-year-old man and his 73-year-old wife were attacked in the bedroom of their home in George at 10.30pm, said Steyn.

“The male victim sustained wounds to his hands, arms neck and face, while his wife sustained wounds to her face and stomach,” she said. - Sapa

Parents objecting to their baby receiving HIV and Aids medication, presumably because of religious beliefs, has been overturned by a judge.

Cape Town - The Western Cape High Court has given permission for the SA Military Health Service (SAMHS) to administer antiretrovirals (ARVs) to the newborn baby of a soldier, it was reported on Tuesday.

The Cape Town army soldier and his wife had objected to the baby receiving HIV and Aids medication, presumably because of religious beliefs, Beeld reported.

The SAMHS submitted an application for an urgent interdict directly after the boy's birth last week.

International guidelines state that the infant of an infected mother must be given the drugs immediately after birth for about four weeks to prevent transmission of the virus.

SAMHS spokesman Colonel Louis Kirstein told the newspaper it was the first time the service had gone to such extremes to treat a baby with ARVs.

He said it had an obligation to act in the best interests of a child if the parents deliberately interfered in its treatment.

The baby's parents apparently refused to believe that the child needed to receive ARV treatment.

“We have no intention of interfering in parents' rights regarding their child. We just wanted to make sure the baby gets the necessary drugs within 72 hours. It is unfortunate that we had to go to such extremes,” Kirstein said.

The court gave the SAMHS the right to administer the ARVs under the supervision of medical officers.

According to the report, the chances of a baby becoming HIV-positive are 15 percent and 45 percent without treatment and five percent with treatment. - Sapa

Graeme Carr, who was arrested after a week of surveillance of his home, was found in possession of almost 150 dagga plants.

Cape Town - A Cape Town teacher is facing charges of dealing and possession of drugs.

The educator was released on R3 000 bail at the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on Monday. But not before he tried to attack the Daily Voice team and stop them from taking his picture.

Graeme Carr, who was arrested on Friday after a week of surveillance of his Kenilworth home, was found in possession of almost 150 dagga plants worth R250 000.

He was also allegedly found with several cultivation trays, with 10 seedlings each, identified as the Cheese, Sensi Star and Mizare varieties of the plant.

Police say the trees were being cultivated in a specially designed setting with specific temperature control levels inside the bedrooms, as well as drug paraphernalia.

“Further investigations by police have established that the arrested suspect is an art teacher at a school in Gugulethu,” says Captain FC van Wyk.

“Police investigations are continuing.”

His lawyer Asghar Mia told the court that Carr was employed by the Gugulethu Cape College, but the Daily Voice could not find the school to get comment.

The Gugulethu campus of the College of Cape Town, the only Further Education and Training (FET) college in the area, say they have no record of anyone named Carr.

The State did not oppose bail but suggested, because of the seriousness of the charge and the volume of dagga and other equipment present to grow the drug, that the court ask for a bail amount of R20 000.

This was reduced to R3 000.

After the amount was paid by a friend, Carr chased the Daily Voice photographer down the street, and attempted to head-butt him.

“I’ll put you in a hole in the ground, bru,” he shouted as he tried to grab the camera and cover his face.

The friend who paid his bail explained that Carr had had “a tough time” over the weekend while in custody at Pollsmoor prison.

Carr’s friend also accosted the Daily Voice, demanding the photographer’s name, and that his picture not appear in the newspaper.

Carr is set to appear again on July 25.

Daily Voice

A security guard was shot dead and another wounded during a shoot-out after they delivered tobacco products to a cafe in Philippi.

Cape Town - A security guard was shot dead and another wounded during a shoot-out after they delivered tobacco products to a corner cafe in Philippi East.

The guards, driving in separate vehicles, were attacked on the corner of Acacia and Sunset streets in Acacia Park at about 9am on Monday.

They were ambushed by three armed men. A suspect, 29, was later arrested.

Provincial police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel André Traut said while the driver of the van was alighting, he was approached by an unknown man.

The man locked the driver inside the shop, while his accomplices opened fire on the security guards who were still in their vehicle. They returned fire, but one was killed and the other wounded.

The unidentified suspects fled, but soon afterwards a man was arrested on charges of murder and attempted murder. Police are searching for the other suspects.

* Gugulethu police are investigating the murders of two men shot while walking in the street with two woman on Sunday night.

The couples were walking on NY 108 between 8.30pm and 9pm when they were confronted by two armed men, said provincial police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk. The gunmen opened fire and killed both men.

Van Wyk declined to name the dead men, saying he was not sure whether their families had been informed.

“The motive behind the attack is unknown and police are investigating a charge of a murder,” he said.

* On Friday, a 25-year-old man was shot dead in Hanover Park, but police are not sure of the circumstances.

Philippi police responded to reports of a shooting in Hanall Walk at 11.20pm and found the man’s body in the street.

“The circumstances are being investigated, and the motive is yet to be established,” said Van Wyk.

“Therefore it is not possible to speculate whether gang violence was involved,” he said.

Police are investigating a case of murder.

No arrests have been made.

Anyone with information can contact Crime Stop at 08600 10111.

Cape Argus