The corruption trial of a former prosecutor was postponed in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court.
|||Cape Town - The corruption trial of a former prosecutor was postponed in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Monday.
Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg postponed the trial of former district court prosecutor Jonas Phosoko and co-accused Mlahleni Mgingi to April 19 because Mgingi could no longer afford a private lawyer.
He intended seeking State legal assistance from the Legal Aid Board. Both had made eight appearances in court since December 2011.
Phosoko faces one charge of corruption, two of theft, and two of defeating the ends of justice. Mgingi faces three charges Ä one each of corruption, theft, and defeating the ends of justice.
According to the charge sheet Mgingi was arrested in June 2010, for dagga possession. He appeared a number of times in the Bellville District Court, and was to have pleaded on in November 2011.
Prosecutor Derek Vogel alleged Mgingi and Phosoko met a number of times in Nyanga, Cape Town, and were in regular cellphone contact with each other during 2011. Between October and November in 2011, Mgingi allegedly paid Phosoko R1800 for Phosoko to steal and destroy the docket in the dagga case.
Phosoko allegedly gained access to the office of a court E prosecutor and removed the Mgingi docket without the other prosecutor's knowledge. Phosoko also allegedly intercepted a drunk-driving docket in which Mzamo Gam was to have appeared in court E in January 2011. This docket went missing and was later found at Phosoko's home. - Sapa