‘Porritt attacks judge, not facts’

FULL BENCH : DECIDES WHERE HE SPENDS CHRISTMAS

Ex-Tigon CEO stands trial on more than 3 000 charges, including corruption, racketeering.

an inquiry into his failure to appear in court on several occasions in June 2017. He has been in Johannesburg Prison for about 18 months.

At the time, he claimed that he fainted several times. He was admitted to hospital and doctors investigated his condition.

‘No money’

Porritt and Sue Bennett were represented by attorney Frank Cohen and Willie Vermeulen SC during the appeal proceedings. The judges ruled on Monday they would not hear any new evidence.

Vermeulen said the appeal did not turn on the new evidence. He argued Spilg’s decision was misdirected and based on a flawed process.

He related that Porritt was arrested in 2002 and released shortly thereafter on R1 million bail. This amount, he said, was later drastically reduced. He said a Supreme Court of Appeal finding in 2011 that both the accused did everything to delay the start, and later the continuation, of the trial should be contextualised.

Vermeulen painted a picture of Porritt having an unblemished record of appearing in court when he should and the trial running smoothly, except when Bennett fell ill.

Fainting spells

Vermeulen argued that Spilg erred by disallowing the affidavits of a waiter and car guard at a restaurant who stated they saw Porritt’s fainting spells on June 9, 2017. He added it was a mistake of Spilg not to allow Porritt to call a friend who was with him that night to testify. He accused Spilg of bias. Advocate Etienne Coetzee for the state said the attack on Spilg was inappropriate, but to be expected from Porritt who “has no respect for the judiciary ...”

He denied that the trial was running smoothly up to the point that Porritt failed to appear.

Malingering

Coetzee asked the judges to assess Porritt’s conduct holistically.

Porritt and Bennett have done everything they could to delay proceedings and continue to do so, he said.

He said Porritt’s attacks came as the trial was about to get back on track following a six-monthlong inquiry into Bennett’s fitness to stand trial. Porritt then wanted the matter postponed for several months and when Spilg refused to postpone it, he was upset.

Thereafter, he allegedly started fainting and failed to appear in court.