Activist’s murder case back on track

The criminal case against Joao Rodrigues should be back on the roll at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) after the former Security Branch policeman’s latest attempt to wriggle out of the charges levelled against him over struggle activist Ahmed Timol’s murder was rejected.

Timol died in apartheid police custody after falling several stories from the infamous John Vorster Square on 27 October, 1971.

His death was originally ruled a suicide but a new inquest in 2017 overturned that conclusion, finding instead he was murdered. It prompted the National Prosecuting Authority to bring charges against Rodrigues, the only surviving officer implicated in 2018.

Proceedings were forced to a halt when Rodrigues launched an application for a permanent stay of prosecution in the High Court in Johannesburg. After a full bench dismissed his case, he tried his luck in the SCA. The SCA yesterday dismissed his case.

Rodrigues’ appearance in May was his 18th since being charged and he still has yet to plead.

The progress of the criminal case against him has been hamstrung by the civil proceedings, with the court left with no option but to repeatedly postpone the case until those proceedings were finalised. Now, however, the path appears clear to move on to trial.

The gist of his argument was that it was unfair to prosecute him 47 years after the fact.

But Judge Aubrey Ledwaba, who penned the SCA’s ruling, found there was no evidence the delay would “inevitably taint the overall fairness of the trial”.

Rodrigues, reported to be 80, is due back in the dock for his criminal case on 12 July.