Suspect accused of assault vents anger by attacking attorney sitting in court

Unhappy with the magistrate’s decision to remand him, an angry suspect accused of assault lashed out at an attorney with no connection to his case at the Wynberg magistrate's court in Cape Town.

Mari Rencken, 47, was assaulted while waiting for her own client's matter to be heard on Thursday.           

Rencken said she was sitting next to the accused box because she needed to say something to the prosecutor.

According to her, the man walked out of the accused box after hearing the magistrate's decision and, without any hesitation or warning, slapped her.

“He came with an open hand and he slapped me. I was sitting on a chair with my back against the wall. When he slapped me I hit my head against the wall and then I fell off my chair.”

Western Cape police spokesperson, Capt FC Van Wyk, confirmed that a case of common assault was registered and is being investigated by the Wynberg SAPS.

“On May 20 at about 10.30am, the complainant, a 46-year-old female (an attorney) was in Wynberg magistrate's court 2, busy with proceedings, when she was assaulted by an unknown male with an open hand,” he said.

Van Wyk added the suspect was appearing in an unrelated matter.

Rencken said the last thing she heard after falling was an instruction that there should be more police in court.

“The magistrate was in court and the prosecutor and there was one policewoman, [as well as] a court orderly that was sitting next to me — and there were other people also in court because they were busy with court proceedings. There were quite a lot of people in the courtroom.

“Nobody intervened, he [the suspect] came without hesitation so it was not like [anyone was] trying to stop him. He came out of the accused box, and without hesitation he slapped me. I didn't even realise what actually happened when I hit my head, no-one expected it, I didn’t expect it,” she said.

She said she was taken to a clinic after the incident.

Rencken, having worked as an attorney for more than 20 years, said she was shocked by the incident.

“I was very upset and I was crying and very scared. I was in shock. I can remember the nurse took my blood pressure three times because she said it was so high ... I was in shock because it was unexpected, it wasn’t even my case, I was just sitting there waiting for my case to be called.

“I am hesitant to go back to court but on the other hand I know that that is my bread and butter, that is my job, that’s what I have been doing for 21 years so in the end I won’t have any choice.

“It’s definitely going to have an influence on how I am going to feel when I go into court in the future,” she said.

Rencken said her family was also shocked by the incident as they never expected something like this to happen in court.

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