Benoni magistrate in hot water again for unjudicial conduct

A Benoni regional magistrate‚ notorious for her brash conduct in court‚ is in hot water again.

Mitzi Schutte has on three prior occasions been found by appellate courts to have brought the administration of justice into disrepute.

The most recent admonishment came from the Supreme Court of Appeal on Friday‚ which said her conduct eroded public confidence in the judicial system.

The present case dealt with an application by three men‚ who will again stand trial for murder and attempted murder.

The court on Friday dismissed their application to enrol a lapsed appeal in their second trial‚ but had harsh words for the magistrate.

Schutte convicted the men of murder in a trial held in Benoni in 2006. She then referred the matter to the high court in Pretoria for sentencing.

However‚ the high court set aside the convictions‚ on the basis that the proceedings in the regional court were irregular – and not in accordance with notions of basic fairness and justice guaranteed by the Constitution.

The men had to be tried again.

The appeal court said the high court‚ in setting aside the convictions‚ also found bias on the part of Schutte.

“This led to a miscarriage of justice‚ where the appellants had been convicted of serious charges‚” Acting Judge of Appeal Ashton Schippers said.

Schippers said what was more disturbing‚ was that this case was not the first in which Schutte had displayed such conduct.

In an appeal heard by the Pretoria High Court in 2010‚ the court remarked on the extremely disturbing and outrageous manner in which Schutte had conducted herself in court during the trial.

In one of the interjections‚ she asked a witness about whether the sorghum beer mentioned in evidence was homemade or store-bought.

The witness replied that it was not homemade.

Schutte then replied: “Now that is something to the better. Okay‚ because I know some of these beers; they put anything in it. Battery acid – I do not know what the hell else‚ but anyway.”

The high court also found that she behaved in an “irritable‚ derogatory and outrageous manner”; that she was discourteous to all officials‚ parties and witnesses‚ and that she hurled insults with impunity.

In a judgment by the SCA in 2013‚ the court found that Schutte was rude to the prosecutor‚ the witnesses‚ the appellant in that case‚ and his attorney.

In the present case‚ Schutte said to the first appellant‚ who is Muslim: “I think I should go to a mosque‚ okay.”

Schutte also took over the examination of the deceased’s wife‚ to the point that the prosecutor remarked that he could not compete with the court.

In another Pretoria High Court judgment in 2007 that set aside rape convictions against two men‚ the court remarked that Schutte’s conduct during the trial was fraught with serious irregularities scratching the core of the proper administration of justice.

“The said irregularities are manifested by the manner of criticising the police‚ the prosecution‚ the defence and this court‚” the high court said.

Schippers also referred the case to the Magistrates’ Commission‚ in the hope that it would urgently take steps to avoid a recurrence of the unjudicial conduct displayed by the magistrate.

The Magistrates’ Commission said it will respond to questions on referrals to it before the end of the week.