Police agree to release O'Sullivan‚ warn they might arrest him again

Police have agreed to release private investigator Paul O'Sullivan after his lawyers brought a late night High Court application challenging the legality of his arrest.

Police and lawyers for O'Sullivan agreed after two hours of behind the scenes deliberations.

O'Sullivan's legal team‚ lead by Afriforum lawyer Willie Spies‚ brought the application in the High Court in Pretoria‚ following O'Sullivan's arrest on Monday afternoon.

Spies told TimesLIVE O'Sullivan's arrest was in contravention of a November 2016 court order‚ in which police had agreed to give O'Sullivan 48 hours notice before arresting him.

• Phahlane 'won’t dignify O’Sullivan' by discussing arrestActing police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane’s refused to discuss the details of the arrest of private investigator Paul O’Sullivan. 

The order also said police would allow O'Sullivan to hand himself over to the nearest police station if arrested.

After an almost two hour delay proceedings began shortly before 11pm‚ only for police lawyers to request an adjournment.

After ten minutes‚ police advocate David Mtsweni‚ and O'Sullivan's advocate‚ Quintus Pelser‚ agreed that O'Sullivan should be released by no later than 11:30pm with no bail being processed.

"Us agreeing to release Mr O'Sullivan does not mean we'll not arrest him in the future‚" Mtsweni said.

Mtweni added that as per the court order from November last year‚ they will give O'Sullivan 48 hours should they want to arrest him.

Pelser said the agreement was that "there should be no processing of a bail application. A phone called can be made and the door can be unlocked."

Meanwhile‚ acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane has refused to discuss the details of O’Sullivan's arrest.

Phahlane appeared on eNCA’s The Justice Factor on Monday night‚ and had prepared to discussed police successes.

“I won’t dignify people like Paul O’Sullivan by granting them airtime to discuss their issues‚” he said.

Phahlane later told Malala that he would not help “in making Paul O’Sullivan a hero.”

O'Sullivan has been probing Phahlane‚ along with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID)‚ and Phahlane has previously questioned his involvement in the case.

Last week the acting commissioner filed court papers at the High Court in Pretoria‚ demanding O’Sullivan's involvement in the investigation be declared unlawful.