Former champion boxer “Gerrie” Coetzee has been acquitted of a charge of failing to register himself as a dental technician.
|||Cape Town - Former world heavyweight champion boxer Gerhard “Gerrie” Coetzee has been acquitted of a charge of failing to register himself as a dental technician.
Coetzee, who retired from boxing in 1993 and has 66 wins, three losses and a draw under his belt, said after the verdict that he was relieved the case was over and looking forward to resting at home.
“At least it is behind me and I am free. This was an unnecessary transaction. It’s been four years, taking our time and costing us money. To take four years… they had no case, they had nothing.”
He added that he would consult his lawyer and consider taking legal action against the prosecution.
On Wednesday Cape Town magistrate Mogamad Esau found that there was insufficient evidence to convict Coetzee of being an “unregistered person practising as a dental technician or dental technologist without a permit”.
The prosecution called one witness, Johannes Nkambule, who testified that he was a registrar with the SA Dental Technicians Council and and had conducted an investigation after he received a complaint that Coetzee was not registered as a dental technician.
Nkambule said he found no formal certificate showing that Coetzee was a dental technician. The defence said he was in fact qualified, but had lost his documentation.
Coetzee, nicknamed the Bionic Hand because he always had trouble with his right hand, won the World Boxing Association (WBA) title in 1983.
His lawyer, Keith Gess, brought a discharge application in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act and argued that there was no evidence that Coetzee was “practising in the profession of a dental technician” and that the dentures Nkambule saw when he visited his home in 2010 in fact belonged to his wife, Rena.
jade.otto@inl.co.za
Cape Argus