MASERU- Justice Charles Hungwe, a judge presidingover the bombings case says postponements frustrate the justice system. This he said after one of the defense lawyers, Advocate Raboletsi Makara called for a postponement to Wednesday next week. Adv. Makara who was on a watching brief in this case was on Wednesday appointed as legal representative for one of the accused, Heqoa Malefane, after his lawyer Adv. Thapelo Ntsiki pull out his service.
Moreover, Malefane, one of the accused in the bombings trial, says he no longer trusts his newly appointed lawyer Advocate Raboletsi Makara.
This he told the court on Thursday adding that when he asked Adv. Makara if he ever represented the prosecution in court at Teyateyaneng and he said no. He showed that he however has evidence that Adv. Makara indeed appeared before the court for the prosecution.
Adv. Makara was on Wednesday accused by some of the defense lawyers in this case of executing some briefs from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). They insisted that he is thus prohibited as a defense lawyer.
All this happened on Thursday after this case was postponed. The case could not continue as the presiding judge Justice Charles Hungwe was said to be mourning and could not be available on Monday. The case was thus postponed by another judge, Justice Polo Banyane.
The court has in this matter, previously dismissed an application for recusal of the presiding judge. The application was made by one of the suspects in the matter, Kamoli who later appealed against the decision of the court dismissing the application.
In his appeal, Kamoli amongst others reasoned that there is a danger of overlapping in the presentation of evidence to an extent that the judge will be biased. The appeal was however not successful as the Court of Appeal dismissed it.
