Achievement
Life Changing Experience
In the early hours of Saturday 8 August 2009, 26 year old Anthony O' Moore experienced a spike in his blood sugar level. Being a diabetic and knowing what he had to do, he immediately tried to administer a shot of insulin, only to discover that his insulin applicator pen had broken.
In a panic, knowing the consequences of not adminsitering insulin when it is needed, he climbed in his car (as he was staying over at a friend's house) and raced off home to get a spare applicator and administer the shot.
As he raced along Beyers Naude Drive in Windsor, Johannesburg he was suddenly stopped and placed under arrest by the "JMPD High Speed Unit" who had mounted a speed trap in Beyers Naude Drive.
Despite pleading that he needed his insulin, he was told that this was not an excuse for speeding. One of the cops even allegedly said - "I am an asthmatic and don't leave home without my asthma pump."
After being arrested at 1am and subsequently jailed at Linden Police Station, he was only taken to get a his spare applicator from his home at 5.30am, when he was in a very bad state indeed. He was then taken back to Police cells only to be released on R1000 bail at approximately 12.30pm that day.
A few hours earlier, Gregory (surname withheld), a 25 year-old father was also arrested at the same place by the same team when he was caught racing home after a panic phone call from his fiance saying there was a prowler in the garden. His reasons and please also fell on deaf ears.
He along with the other 17 or so other offenders was also only released on bail at around 12.30pm.
Relitives of Gegory and Anthony contacted JPSA a few days later and we agreed to review their cases and offer advice and after meeting with them and their relitives and verifying their stories, we agreed to take their cases up.
JPSA tried to get the charges against the two withdrawn at Randburg Magistrates Court after receiving copies of the dockets but met with an extremely aggressive, adversarial and arrogant response from JMPD Public Prosecutor Weatherspoon and Senior Public Prosecutor Smit.
Understanding that this prosecution had turned into a vendetta to make an example of what happens when you challenge the authority of certain people, we approached criminal and civil attorney Anton Burger who immediately agreed to take their cases on a pro bono basis. His attempts to have the charges withdrawn against the two also failed and he was extremely surprised by the “hard assed” attitude he encountered from the prosecutors involved.
On Tuesday 17 November 2009, their cases finally came up for trial and Anthony’s case came up first on the role. After the prosecution presented their case and it was the turn for the defence, Anton Burger went straight to his closing arguments instead of calling any witnesses for the defence at all. This highly unusual approach raised a few eyebrows but his closing argument was so good that it completely obliterated the State’s case and gained Anthony immediate acquittal.
The fact that the JMPD’s High Speed Unit had violated the TCSP Guidelines by their own admission and statement played a major role in the acquittal.
Magistrate Erasmus gave the prosecution and the JMPD officers a thorough “reaming out” and that was that. All subsequent cases for the same charge on the role for that day were subsequently withdrawn by the State, including Gregory’s.
Now free of the criminal charges that were brought against them, Anthony and Gregory can go on with their lives. Anthony however will have to live with the fact that his diabetic condition has been significantly worsened by the draconian treatment he received from the JMPD and the SAPS. He now has to inject insulin up to 15 times a day, as opposed to the 4 times a day that was previously necessary. If that is not life changing, then we don’t know what is!
We have no doubt that a civil claim will arise out of this situation and wholly support Anthony in this. The State was given more than ample opportunity to halt the malicious prosecution of Anthony and did not take any of the opportunities provided.