Court errors foil justice

28 April 2017 - 09:12 By NALEDI SHANGE
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Image: Gallo Images/Thinkstock

A convict who has fought farcical circumstances for almost four years for the right to appeal against his rape conviction hopes to hear today if his persistence will pay off.

Lerato Khaole was accused of rape in 2008. The Germiston Magi st r at e ’s Court handed down a 10-year jail sentence in 2013.

Khaole has been fighting ever since for the right to appeal against conviction and sentence in the High Court. The Germiston court will decide today on granting him leave to appeal.

He says his “miscarriage of justice ” started when his request for an appeal hearing took so long to be granted his lawyer died before it could be finalised. He also hit delays as parts of the transcripts of his trial went missing.

Time and time again Khaole appeared, only for his matter to be turned back, because of the missing transcripts. Lawyers for Human Rights said that Khaole’s case was not an isolated one.

 “I get calls from inmates across the country whose criminal appeals are delayed b e c au s e of missing transcripts,” said attorney Clare Ballard, adding t h at LHR received reports of about 60 similar cases each year.

Suhayfa Bhamjee, law lecturer at the University of KwaZuluNatal, said missing documents had in the past resulted in matters being thrown out of court and convicted prisoners freed.

“The inmate would win as there is nothing for the court to look at so he is given the benefit of the doubt,” Bhamjee said. Khaole could be considered for parole next year but he is adamant that he wants his conviction overturned.

“It has been emotionally, physically and financially draining to be here,” he said in a telephone call from Boksburg Prison. “I don’t want to live with that criminal record.”

The Justice Department failed to respond to enquiries.

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