Tag tussle in 'paedo' case

29 September 2016 - 08:42 By PHILANI NOMBEMBE

The Department of Correctional Services is pulling out all stops to prove that alleged British paedophile Nigel Lee Tucker tampered with his electronic monitoring device and is a flight risk. Tucker, who was arrested in Cape Town in March, appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court yesterday to determine whether he violated his bail conditions.They compel him not to remove the ankle tag and to report to the Sea Point police station regularly pending his extradition case. He was taken into custody last week.Tucker faces 42 counts of indecent assault allegedly committed between 1983 and 1993.The department flew in Thabo Ratau, its head of prisoner electronic monitoring, from Pretoria to bolster its case.Ratau, who examined Tucker's Israeli-made device, said the gadget could not have broken without excessive force being applied to it."There is what we call the chain of evidence, where the evidence is placed in an evidence bag and (sealed)."There is no evidence that this is the same item (that was removed from Tucker)," Tucker's counsel, Reeben Liddell, told Ratau."You can't exclude that the device came off unintentionally."The hearing continues today...

There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.

From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.

For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.

Already subscribed? Sign in below.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.