Glynnis acquitted on two charges
HAS TO ANSWER TO NPA ACT CHARGES
Former senior state prosecutor and now DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach and her attorney have been acquitted on charges of defeating the ends of justice, but will have to answer to charges of contravening the NPA Act.
Pretoria North Magistrate Brian Nemavhidi yesterday acquitted Breytenbach and her attorney, Johan Wagenaar, on two counts of defeating the ends of justice by wiping information off her official laptop while she was on suspension as a prosecutor in 2012.
He said the charge related to information forming the subject of an internal investigation and not civil or criminal judicial proceedings. The offence of defeating the ends of justice could only be committed in relation to judicial proceedings and not quasi-administrative proceedings such as an internal disciplinary hearing, he said.
However, the magistrate found that Breytenbach and Wagenaar had a case to answer on four charges of contravening the National Prosecuting Authority Act.
The charges also relate to the alleged removal of files from Breytenbach’s NPA laptop, their alleged refusal to hand over the laptop and giving outsiders access to official information.
The trial was postponed to October for the defence to present their case.
Breytenbach has accused her former bosses of orchestrating a “Gestapo-like” criminal investigation against her to get rid of her because she refused to drop charges against the police’s suspended Crime Intelligence head, Richard Mdluli.
Her advocate, Barry Roux, argued that the criminal case against her was a smokescreen to get rid of her.
Breytenbach alleged the charges against her correlated with the withdrawal of charges against Mdluli by (the now suspended) NPA Commercial Crimes head Lawrence Mrwebi – a step she fiercely opposed.