Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Court lets Calitz off the hook
Hostage survivor’s drug charges dropped
SOMALI kidnap survivor Debbie Calitz and her eight co-accused, who were facing drug charges, are off the hook for now.
Charges were yesterday provisionally withdrawn in the Hatfield District Court in Pretoria, pending the finalisation of a police investigation. Laboratory reports pertaining to the case, and other issues, were still outstanding.
After the brief court proceedings, Peter Jay, who represented most of the group, told them they were free to go home and could collect their bail money.
He said, however, that the State could decide to reinstate the charges at any time.
The lawyer commented sarcastically that the fact that the matter was withdrawn because the State was not ready to proceed was an indication of how “strong” the State’s case was, and “how serious” they were about the charges.
Calitz was charged with possession of drugs, along with her two children, KerriAnn and Jason Cross, and Donovan Coles, Nicolas Fourie, Matthew Beukes, Zane Coles and Jarryd Lottering.
This followed their arrest in December last year when the police were called to a flat in Constantia Park. The police claimed they found dagga, dagga plants and “magic mushrooms” at the flat. They were held in custody over the weekend, and were eventually released on bail of R1 000 each.
Speaking outside the court yesterday, Calitz told Weekend Argus sister title the Pretoria News that she was just happy it was over for now. “I feel very relieved. I am at last able to get on with my life.”
She was not very worried at this stage that the charges would be reinstated.
“If it was all that important, they (the police) would have had all their evidence ready.”
Calitz regarded the charges against her and her co- accused as “something which was blown out of proportion”.
She said it was also “too much of a coincidence” that their arrest had come at the time of the launch of her book, 20 Months in Hostage Hell, and at a time when a magazine published “derogatory statements” regarding her and her alleged drug habits.
She said she did not hold any grudges, and had no plans to sue the police, as she understood they “only did their job”.
Calitz, who was captured by Somali pirates while sailing from Kenya to South Africa with her then partner Bruno Pelizzari, and spent several months in captivity, said she was planning to see a psychologist following her Somali nightmare.
“The government has not helped me in this regard, but I am sure I will get help if I ask for it.”
Although she is not working now, she had had a job offer and would start working as soon as she had a car. She planned to travel to Port Elizabeth next month to promote her book and give motivational speeches.
Meanwhile, Vera Hecht, Pelizzari’s sister, has said that the nearly R1 million raised for the couple’s ransom while they were in captivity will be held in a trust.
Speaking after concerns raised by donors, Hecht said some of the money was used to send negotiators to Somalia. When they were released, the trust approved money for “rehabilitation”, including medical costs and counselling. The rest of the money would be used to help the families of other South African hostages held in foreign countries.