Two cases against Krejcir postponed
BOTH the attempted escape and extradition cases against Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir were postponed yesterday in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court.
During proceedings, State prosecutor Lawrence Gcaba said all the parties had been afforded the opportunity to access documents provided by the State and that he was ready to set a trial date.
A number of heavily armed policemen provided tight security in the courtroom.
Krejcir was holding a 500 Sudoku book in his hands, his ankles were chained and he had a prison “stun belt” around his waist.
One of the defence lawyers for Krejcir’s co-accused said footage was available, which he had not yet seen, that was the reason why a trial date should not be set.
Advocate Frank Cohen, acting for Krejcir, told the court his client was moved to a correctional facility in the Eastern Cape without anyone’s knowledge, and he hadn’t seen the documents that were handed in to the court.
Zehir Omar, defence lawyer for Melissa Christopher, who has a child with Krejcir, told the court that she had no involvement in his alleged plot to escape from prison.
He made an application for her bail conditions to be amended.
These included the condition that she was not allowed to be barred from communicating with Krejcir.
“That prohibits him from talking to the mother of his child. I want the court to allow Melissa to talk to Radovan about the child and the trial with the presence of a guard and myself.”
Gcaba said the court needed to study the documentation to understand why such conditions were imposed before it made a decision.
In the extradition matter, State prosecutor Johan du Toit said previously a document was handed to Cohen to sign so that the State could proceed with dealing with the extradition matter.
A document was signed by Du Toit which dealt with the extradition application.
The document was confidential and needed to be reviewed by Krejcir for him to be prepared when his lawyer consulted with him.
Both matters were postponed to April 21.