Court of Appeal slams DPP for incompetence

Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday May 14, 2014 15:11

 

The bench’s ire was sparked by a case involving Amogelang Shimwe, who was appealing his armed robbery conviction. The judges found that Shimwe stabbed his victim but was not charged with attempted murder.

Gaongalelwe said the case was disturbing in that the nature and extent of the victim’s injuries coupled with a remark Shimwe made after the stabbing, should have led to a charge of attempted murder.

“The DPP failed to do their job and now the appellant has gotten away with a serious offence even though he ought to have been charged with the offence of attempted murder,” he said.

The three judges said the DPP needs to resolve its shortcomings and come to court prepared with the evidence in serious crimes in order to ensure that justice is served.

“It is high time the office of the DPP gets dockets of all the serious offences at an early stage so as to properly advise and supervise on the way forward,” said the judges.

The three judges did not spare their colleagues in the High Court for having granted Shimwe leave to appeal his robbery conviction. Dismissing the appeal, Gaongalelwe said the leave to appeal should have been denied as there were no reasons given by the High Court for granting it. He said the High Court judge in question simply made a blanket order without giving reasons why he was granting leave. “The order does not even say whether leave to appeal is granted in respect of conviction or sentence,” he said.

Gaongalelwe said the legal position is that leave to appeal is to be granted only in cases where the court is of the view that there are reasonable prospects of success on the appeal.

The court’s ruling must demonstrate the aspects in respect of which it considers the applicant to have a reasonably arguable case, he said.