Shenanigans, mishaps slow Pietropaolo case

THE LAWYER representing former Bank of Athens treasurer Vincenzo Pietropaolo was this week asked to prove if he was a qualified advocate.

Pietropaolo was arrested in November after allegedly gunning down his estranged wife, Manuela, at her Brackenhurst, Gauteng home.

While Pietropaola has spent the past few weeks applying for bail at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court, the erratic behaviour of his lawyer, Sandile Buthelezi, has slowed proceedings considerably.

Last week, when the bail application began in earnest, Buthelezi repeated questions, refused to believe the court’s ruling that the crime was a schedule 6 offence and was chastised for using blasphemy and failing to stand up when addressing the court.

Eventually, Buthelezi began gesticulating wildly and shouting at magistrate Martin Kroukamp, accusing him of bias against his client, the same strategy he had used against the previous magistrate on the case.

However, Kroukamp, clearly unimpressed, was quick to explain that his questions for Pietropaolo were of a clarifying nature and not any sort of submission on the merits of the case.

This week, Kroukamp insisted that Buthelezi provide proof of

He began

accusing him

his admission as an advocate and, while Buthelezi was able to provide this, proceedings could not continue because the lawyer claimed he had a family emergency.

Prior to the postponement, while cross-examining investigating officer Kenneth Mathebula, he insisted the officer had lied about the location of Pietropaolo’s Italian passport.

As the State believes Pietropaolo to be a flight risk, they had been trying to confiscate his passport.

Mathebula had told the court previously that the passport was still in the possession of the Bank of Athens, as the bank had refused to hand it over to police because Pietropoalo was still in possession of some of the bank’s property.

However, Buthelezi insisted that the police had confiscated the passport during Pietropaolo’s arrest, meaning the State will now have to summon security personnel from the bank to confirm Mathebula’s version.

After this questioning, Buthelezi then told the court his son had been hospitalised and he needed to leave urgently.

The magistrate granted the postponement.

However, according to Vanessa Da Silva Saria, who is on a watching brief on the matter for Manuela’s family, Buthelezi was seen outside court calmly chatting, not rushing to a hospital as he had claimed he needed to do.

Meanwhile, an online petition calling for Pietropaolo to be denied bail has garnered more than 1 500 online signatures and hundreds of physical entries as well.