SIPHO MURDER TRIAL PUT ON HOLD AGAIN

MBABANE - Sipho Shongwe’s trial on the murder of Victor Gamedze has been put on hold once again.

This, after Shongwe’s legal team challenged the legality of the appearance of the Crown’s representative, Advocate Michael Hellens.
Shongwe’s murder trial, which has been marred by many legal challenges, was set to proceed today, but due to the latest developments, it will not continue.

The murder accused was at the High Court yesterday for arguments on his application where he wants State witnesses, Mbusi ‘Ncaza’ Nkosi and Simphiwe Tata Ngubane, to physically present themselves before court to give evidence as opposed to doing so by audio visual link (AVL).

Raised

However, the matter could not proceed as the issue of Advocate Hellens’s appearance was raised before Judge Nkosinathi Maseko.
The argument advanced by Shongwe, who is represented by Advocate Laurence Hodes on the instruction of Lucky Howe, is that Advocate Hellens cannot appear before court as his appearance had been challenged, until such a time that the challenge had been disposed and determined.

Advocate Hellens appears in the matter alongside Principal Crown Counsels Macebo Nxumalo and Absalom Makhanya.
When the AVL matter was supposed to be heard yesterday, the parties went to see Judge Maseko in his chambers on two occasions.

When the parties first approached the judge in chambers, Howe raised the point that the AVL matter could not be argued without the issue of the right of appearance in terms of Section 5 (2) of the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA).

The Crown, on the other hand, said that section of the Act did not apply to any person delegated by the director of public prosecutions (DPP) in terms of Section 4 (2) of the same Act.

The legal representatives approached the judge again in chambers and Advocate Hellens was ordered to file an application for admission before close of business yesterday and Shongwe would file his opposition, in the event he is opposed to the application, today.
The Crown was ordered to file its replying papers in the afternoon and the matter will be heard at 2:30pm. The matter will be heard by Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala today.

This means that hearing of the AVL application will not proceed for now. The murder trial, which was scheduled to proceed today, has also been affected and its hearing dates will have to be re-scheduled.

In his supplementary heads of argument on the advocate’s right of admission, Shongwe said he objected to the appearance of Advocate Hellens to prosecute in his matter because he allegedly did not have a right of audience “and therefore cannot appear in the Kingdom of Eswatini.”

He argued that he employed the services of Advocate Hodes in terms of Section 5 of the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA) to apply for admission and an order was granted by the chief justice with the consent of the Law Society and the attorney general.

Argued

“The admission of an advocate is provided for under Section 5 of LPA and the said Hellens SC does not meet the provisions of Section 5 (1). He is not a resident in Eswatini nor a citizen of the Kingdom,” argued Shongwe.

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