SIPHO WANTS EXTRADITION RULING SET ASIDE

MBABANE - Sipho Shongwe will not go down without a fight.

He now wants the High Court to review and set aside the ruling which was issued by Manzini Principal Magistrate David Khumalo, concerning the extradition application which was filed by the South African Government. Shongwe has since filed a notice of appeal at the High Court, where he raised 18 reasons why he feels the decision that he must be extradited to South Africa should be set aside.

According to the appellant (Shongwe), the magistrate erred in holding that he escaped from Barberton Prison in the Republic of South Africa. He averred that the cumulative evidence proved that the evidence presented constituted hearsay and irrelevant evidence. It was further his contention that the learned magistrate allegedly erred in finding and holding that he acted in common purpose with unknown perpetrators in the forgery and uttering of the impugned liberation warrant.

Misdirected

Shongwe is further of the view that the court misdirected itself in finding that he gave a mandate to the unknown persons to forge and utter the impugned liberation warrant. “There was no evidence establishing that the appellant gave a mandate for the forgery and uttering of the impugned liberation warrant, nor was there any  evidence that he actively associated himself in the execution of the alleged mandate,” reads part of Shongwe’s notice of appeal. He went on to contend that the magistrate allegedly failed to take into account and to appreciate that the application for extradition had been brought unreasonably late, considering that it had been filed 11 years after the alleged offence. Shongwe argued that: “Unreasonable delay constitutes a defence in extradition proceedings same as in criminal proceedings. “The timing of the extradition application that is being brought immediately after the murder charge constitutes mala fides,” he argued.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: