Johan Eksteen, a Director of BDK Attorneys, alongside Advocate Abré Loubser on brief, ensured the liberty of two clients after approaching the Limpopo Division of the High Court on an urgent basis. The matter was heard on 8 March 2023.
The origin of this matter dates back to July 2019, when two municipal officials of Mokopane were murdered. Our clients were contacted in April 2021 to depose to the colloquially called “warning statements” in relation to accusations of two counts murder and conspiracy to commit murder. At that stage, our Johan Eksteen represented the First Applicant in the matter, a prominent politician in South Africa, who was clearly alleged to have been involved in the committing of the crimes.
BDK Attorneys notified the investigating officer and Provincial Commander of the SAPS that should the investigation progress and anything further be required from our client, alternatively their arrest be required, our office should be contacted to voluntarily hand over our clients. Both parties acknowledged such undertaking.
Nevertheless, almost two years later, both our clients were arrested out of the blue, without any communication to our office by the Investigating Officer, which could be labelled as a rogue ambush on our clients who had been cooperative since the inception of the matter.
Upon closer inspection, Johan Eksteen realised that the warrants of arrest for both accused are defective and stand to be set aside, on the basis that the CAS numbers (commonly referred to as the police case numbers) on which the warrants were applied for were incorrect, no applications for such warrant (even under the incorrect CAS number) are available, and the warrants were applied for by an administrative official of the National Prosecuting Authority – not a prosecutor or commissioned officer as required by law.
Upon highlighting these irregularities to the Magistrates’ Court where our clients had their first appearance, the Presiding Officer could not determine the validity and legality of the warrants of arrest, as it was in fact the same Magistrate who authorised such warrants. The matter was thus postponed to 14 March 2023, with our clients being remanded in custody.
The First Applicant in the urgent application suffers from a medical condition, which caused the Department of Correctional Services to refuse him admission to their custody and he was rather transported to a State Hospital for detention.
The entire myriad of irregular and unlawful circumstances prompted the launching of the urgent application, requiring the immediate release of both clients.
Acting Judge Mthimkhulu agreed with BDK Attorneys’ stance and both accused were granted bail in the amount of R5000 each and their immediate release was ordered upon payment of the bail.
This is a proud victory for BDK Attorneys, as Advocate Loubser was an article clerk with BDK Attorneys before joining the Bar. This is a textbook example of BDK Attorneys’ outstanding caliber of work and all-round determination to protect the rights and interests of our clients.
Meet Johan Eksteen
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