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[File photo] The accused in the Joshlin Smith case stand in a court of law.
The presiding Judge in the Joshlin Smith kidnapping and human trafficking trial sitting in the Western Cape High Court in Saldanha Bay on the Cape West Coast, Justice Nathan Erasmus, has cautioned the defence counsel against asking questions that he may disallow for wasting the court’s time.
Advocate Nobahle Mkabayi has been cross-examining Captain Philip Seekoei who took the statement of the accused.
A trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of confessions of accused Jacquen Appollis and Stevano van Rhyn’s statements is underway.
Mkabayi has since yesterday been grilling Seekoei about her client closing his eyes or sleeping during the taking of the statement.
Judge Erasmus: “Now Ms Mkabayi, you put it to the witness that during that fifty-five seconds the accused had lifted his hand in front of his face I didn’t see it.”
Advocate Mkabayi: “My Lord that is in video number two not in video number one.”
Judge Erasmus: “But we are in video number one, we played it earlier. You put it to the witness that he had put his hand in front of his face. I couldn’t see it on the screen. The witness has got a laptop in front of him. You have got a laptop in front of you prosecutors have a laptop in front of them.”
Live proceedings:
