"Ordinarily, they wouldn't have known about this because I was just walking, completely in the wild. But to get the rescue team in, we had to get permission from the Table Mountain National Park and to get the vehicles up," he said.
"I had to tell them that I broke the regulations and before we got in they gave me a notice to appear in court. At that point I didn't care, I just wanted to get my dog."
When they got there, the dog had died.
A criminal record would, among other things, affect his ability to travel abroad to see his son, Berman said.
Berman's lawyer, Barry Varkel, made representations to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), saying that having a criminal record could block Berman from attending "seminars in his specialised field of chemical pathology".
Eric Ntabazalila, the spokesperson for the NPA in the Western Cape, said it had been decided not to prosecute Berman.
Varkel said: "My client is relieved the court has had the presence of mind to see the absurdity of the charge."
Dog lover risks criminal record in bid to save best friend during lockdown
Veteran chemical pathologist Dr Peter Berman often gives expert evidence in complex cases in the high court in Cape Town.
But he has spent the past month pulling out all stops to avoid having his own day in court.
Berman, 73, was charged for breaking lockdown regulations by walking his dogs outside the permitted hours of level 4 lockdown in the Table Mountain National Park.
The prospect of a criminal record caused Berman sleepless nights.
He told the Sunday Times that his nightmare started on May 6 when his dog, Cuthbert, was bitten by a snake in a remote part of the park.
Berman said he had to get permission from the park authorities to allow a rescue team into the park - and that tipped them off to his transgression.
"Ordinarily, they wouldn't have known about this because I was just walking, completely in the wild. But to get the rescue team in, we had to get permission from the Table Mountain National Park and to get the vehicles up," he said.
"I had to tell them that I broke the regulations and before we got in they gave me a notice to appear in court. At that point I didn't care, I just wanted to get my dog."
When they got there, the dog had died.
A criminal record would, among other things, affect his ability to travel abroad to see his son, Berman said.
Berman's lawyer, Barry Varkel, made representations to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), saying that having a criminal record could block Berman from attending "seminars in his specialised field of chemical pathology".
Eric Ntabazalila, the spokesperson for the NPA in the Western Cape, said it had been decided not to prosecute Berman.
Varkel said: "My client is relieved the court has had the presence of mind to see the absurdity of the charge."
Mitchells Plain resident Ebrahim Hartley, 38, who was arrested on his way to a spaza shop to buy electricity, also had a narrow escape from prosecution.
He was meant to appear before a magistrate on Thursday but the docket was not in court, Hartley's lawyer, Msimelelo Siwendu, told the Sunday Times.
"Our client was excused by the honourable court. [He] is not just inconvenienced by the arrest. We have commenced instituting a civil claim against the police."
Hartley said the officers had arrested him despite the fact that he was on an errand permitted under lockdown rules.
This week, Crispin Phiri, spokesperson for justice minister Ronald Lamola, said the department had been reviewing the "admission-of-guilt legislative regime" prior to Covid-19. Phiri said the legislation will now cater for people who have admitted guilt to contravening lockdown regulations.
"Ultimately, you want people to admit to petty offences but it should not have the effect of then having a criminal record."
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