Derby-Lewis named in prison bribe case

Terminally ill convicted killer Clive Derby-Lewis has been linked to a bid to bribe the mother of Waterkloof Four member Christoff Becker.

The claim emerged in the case of a prisoner who appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on charges of extortion and attempted extortion.

The man, who cannot be named due to the nature of the charges, is in negotiations with the state about a plea agreement and has not yet pleaded.

The 35-year-old is serving time in Pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre after his 2008 conviction on 32 charges of theft and fraud relating to a countrywide crime spree with his former girlfriend.

Derby-Lewis and Becker both served time in the same prison.

The alleged extortionist was again nabbed on June 19 this year for allegedly demanding money from Becker’s mother, Mariëtte, to conceal video footage he claimed would land her son in trouble with the Department of Correctional Services.

The man allegedly obtained a hard drive from Derby-Lewis that originally belonged to Becker and which the man claimed contained videos belonging to the Waterkloof Four member.

Becker was re-arrested with a fellow Waterkloof Four member just five days after they were released on parole in February this year. Their arrest came after video footage of the two allegedly drinking alcohol and using cellphones emerged. They have denied the allegations and challenged their rearrest.

Yesterday Marius Coertze, lawyer for Derby-Lewis, who is serving a life sentence for conspiring to murder South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani, denied that his client had in any way been involved in the alleged extortion.

According to Coertze, the accused claimed that Derby-Lewis was in cahoots with him, but Coertze rubbished the claims, saying that Derby-Lewis was in hospital at the time of the alleged blackmail.

Derby-Lewis is terminally ill with lung cancer and is waiting to hear whether his medical parole will be approved. He was twice stabbed in prison earlier this year.

During the man’s brief appearance in court yesterday, prosecutor Fikile Hlabangana asked for a postponement to obtain information on the accused’s criminal record to consider a plea and sentence offer by the man’s lawyer.

After proceedings, senior public prosecutor Kas Sami-Kistnan said: “The defence has made an offer for a plea and sentence agreement, but before the state can consider the offer it needs to see the accused’s complete criminal record.”

Sami-Kistnan added that the state was hoping to settle the matter as soon as possible.

The case was postponed to next month.

In the meantime, magistrate Maryke de la Rey encouraged the state and defense to continue with plea negotiations.