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- The trial of 18 police officers for the death-in-custody of Regan Naidoo in 2018 has been delayed yet again.
- On Tuesday, the pretrial conference was adjourned to 31 May in the Durban Magistrate's Court.
- The accused's new defence team said it had underestimated the volume of case documents.
The pretrial conference of a death-in-custody case involving 18 police officers was adjourned to 31 May in the Durban Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
Magistrate Maryn Mewalal said she was concerned about the "unnecessary, unreasonable and unjust delays this case has endured", GroundUp reported.
The officers, many of them attached to the Chatsworth Police Station, are facing trial after Regan Naidoo, 32, died in police custody in August 2018.
Naidoo had been apprehended at a petrol station in Chatsworth on suspicion of being in possession of a firearm used in a crime.
After an investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), initially, 22 officers were arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, torture, kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice.
READ | Regan Naidoo murder case postponed again, dad vows to get justice for his son
Three defence teams are representing the accused.
At the last convening, on 23 February, advocate Anesh Sukdeo, who had been appointed the day before to represent three of the accused, said he would be ready for the pretrial conference.
But on Tuesday, advocate Khuzwayo attended court on Sukdeo's behalf and informed the magistrate that the documents had been too voluminous to get through in time.
Magistrate Mewalal asked why Sukdeo could not be in court to answer for his previous assurances and to advise the court how much time he still needed.
Khuzwayo said he was in court on Sukdeo's instruction and that they would be ready by the end of July.
Mewalal rejected this request and set a new pretrial hearing for 31 May.
She said the State and defence must make the time to get through the workload to move the case forward.
She adjourned the matter and extended bail for the accused.
Divashin Govender, who is representing one of the accused, told GroundUp that his client was being prejudiced by the delays.
He said outside court:
Naidoo's widow, Kerosha, was in court with family.
"We have to face them [the accused] every time we come to court," she said tearfully.
"They are out on bail, but our lives will never be the same. It takes me days to recover after seeing them in court. I am a single mother raising two children on my own. I have to put on a brave face when I go home."
She was six months pregnant with their second child when Naidoo died.
"My son is old enough to ask where his father is and I still don't know how to tell him."
Naidoo's father, Timothy, welcomed Magistrate Mewalal's firm stance on addressing the time wasted on postponements.
