Sting operation in doctor’s bust ‘unlawful’
Medic caught issuing fake sick note to cop
The operations that led to the arrest of medical doctor Siphokazi Sokupa were “unlawfully” carried out and involved “persistence, pleading and emotional blackmail to achieve the purpose of entrapment”.
This was argued by defence attorney Phumelele Hole in the East London regional court yesterday.
Sokupa was arrested by the Hawks in May 2020, after she was captured on video allegedly issuing a fake sick note to an undercover officer from the elite unit. The arrest, according to the Hawks, was made after several complaints were received from business owners and employers about questionable sick notes allegedly issued by the doctor. According to the charge sheet, several patients Sokupa had examined and booked off between May 2018 and 2020 had allegedly been medically fit.
was accompanied in court by a group of women.
Hole argued before magistrate Twanette Olivier that the evidence still to be submitted by the investigation team would infringe his client’s right to a fair trial.
He said the “entrapment or undercover” operations went “beyond merely providing the opportunity for the commission of the offence”.
“The conduct of the operations involved the detrimental exploitation of the accused’s human characteristics of compassion and sympathy.
“The admission of the evidence would render the trial irregular, unfair and against the prescripts of section 35 of the constitution.”
But Olivier said she was not of the view that the evidence obtained would infringe Sokument pa’s right to a fair trial.
State prosecutor Benedict Wilson agreed to a postponeSokupa so he could “address the court properly.” The case was postponed to November 17.