Convicted racist Momberg traumatised probation officer‚ court hears

The probation officer tasked with assessing convicted racist Vicki Momberg had to go for counselling to deal with the abuse she endured from Momberg‚ the Randburg Magistrate’s Court heard on Friday.

The officer had been on the receiving end of several outbursts by Momberg and felt degraded and insulted. She had written a letter to the court‚ stating why she could no longer compile a pre-sentencing report on Momberg. The letter was not read to the court.

Momberg was found guilty of four counts of crimen injuria after insulting and hurling the k-word at black police officers and 10111 operators after being a victim of a smash-and-grab in February 2016.

Through her lawyer Kevin Lawlor‚ Momberg said there was no bad blood between herself and the officer.

Lawlor put it to Naidoo that the officer had continued to call his client even after recusing herself. Naidoo refuted this‚ saying there had been only one phone call from the officer to Momberg‚ made in her presence and on speaker phone‚ to inform Momberg that the officer would no longer be handling her case.

Prosecutor Yusuf Baba pointed out to the court that there was no excuse for Momberg’s outburst against the probation officer because two years had passed since the smash-and-grab incident which had reportedly left her traumatised.

Baba said he intended calling the officer to the stand next Friday to tell the court why she had recused herself from the case and to also answer to Momberg’s claims.

Momberg’s 2016 racial rant was caught on camera. Besides using the k-word more than 40 times‚ Momberg was heard saying: “The calibre of blacks in this town varies from the calibre of blacks in Durban. They’re opinionated‚ they’re arrogant and they’re just plan and simple useless‚” refusing to be assisted by a black 10111 operator.

“Let me tell you something. This is the type of police force we have got. We’ve got a low calibre of people working. If I see a black person‚ I will drive over them. If I have a gun‚ I will shoot everyone.”

On Friday‚ the court heard how the estate agent told her probation officer that there was no insult in calling someone the k-word. Her views were in a report that Naidoo shared with the court.

Naidoo said Momberg had told probation officers that “k****r was simply a swear word. It should not be taken personally unless that person feels or believes they are what they are being called.”

Asked whether an apology to the officers would suffice‚ Naidoo said it wouldn’t.

The prosecution team is pushing for jail time for Momberg – an unprecedented move. Naidoo had previously recommended that she be partially imprisoned‚ meaning that Momberg be jailed over weekends.

Referring to the law‚ Naidoo said the court could use its discretion and sentence Momberg to a minimum of 100 hours but not more than 2000 hours in jail. “It may not affect her because she is not taking [responsibility] but it may send a message to others.” she said.

She added that if the court decided on house arrest‚ it wouldn’t be seen as being sympathetic towards Momberg‚ but whether she would learn any lessons from her experience was up to her.