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Van Breda, NDPP get leave to appeal livestream ruling

Cape Town - Murder-accused Henri van Breda and the National Director of Public Prosecutions have been granted leave to appeal against a High Court ruling granting Media24 permission to livestream his trial.

The date for the hearing in the Supreme Court of Appeal still had to be determined.

The Constitutional Court rejected the parties' urgent appeal request on April 13.

On March 27, Western Cape High Court Judge Siraj Desai granted Media24's application. He said there was no real prospect of jeopardy to the trial.

The permission did not extend to exhibits, and media would not be allowed to photograph or record Van Breda's sister Marli without prior consent.

The State and Van Breda's lawyers had opposed the application, arguing it could alter witness testimony or intimidate witnesses.

Experts could suffer reputational damage if the public tore their performances to shreds, they argued.

Desai had denied the parties leave to appeal.

"It seems to me that in the modern era of rapidly increasing methods of mass communication, to decline this order would be inconsistent with the current, and certainly the future, reality," he said.

There was no evidence to support the State's claim of the possibly adverse effects of broadcasting the testimony of witnesses, Desai ruled, nor was it easily ascertainable how Van Breda's right to a fair trial would be compromised.

If there was any hint of this, he easily change the order, he said.

* News24 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Media24, a Naspers company

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