Mark Scott-Crossley would be removed from court and sentencing deliberations conducted in his absence if he was unable to control his temper, Justice George Maluleke warned on Wednesday.

The judge issued the warning in the Phalaborwa Circuit Court after yet another outburst from Scott-Crossley.

“Do you prefer that this process continue in your absence because you cannot contain yourself?” Maluleke asked Scott-Crossley, who was convicted in April of masterminding the premeditated murder of farmworker Nelson Chisale, 41.

The court found that Chislale was tossed into a lion enclosure after being assaulted with pangas.

The court had a duty to uphold its dignity and integrity, Maluleke said. His comments came after Scott-Crossley interrupted the cross-examination by state prosecutor Ivy Thenga of his co-accused, Simon Mathebula, 43, who was found to have acted in concert with him in committing the murder.

Mathebula was detailing incidents during which Scott-Crossley had dismissed workers “in a terrible manner”. Scott-Crossley then brought proceedings to a halt, interrupting the prosecutor’s cross-examination to tell his defence counsel, Johann Engelbrecht, SC, that he was no longer on trial. He had already been tried, Scott-Crossley complained.

Later denying that this had been a tantrum or an outburst, Scott-Crossley told the court he had merely needed to ask Engelbrect something.

“I really did,” he told the court.

Telling Scott-Crossley he was “very close” to ordering him out of the court for the rest of the proceedings, Maluleke questioned the effect of his behaviour on Mathebula.

“You say you are not on trial… You have got no business to say that. No business at all,” Maluleke told him.

Scott-Crossley countered that he had “not been to law school”. Maluleke retorted: “You must have learned manners”. The proceedings would continue in his absence if there were any further tantrums, he warned.

Maluleke then asked Mathebula if he felt in any way intimidated by Scott-Crossley’s actions.

“Even if I feel intimidated, there is nothing I can do because I feel very hurt at this stage, and confused,” Mathebula responded.

Maluleke assured him that the court offered him more protection than any other place and that it was important he felt able to speak freely and truthfully.

In final argument before judgment, Englbrecht argued that Scott-Crossley’s many tantrums in court not be held against him.

Maluleke, however, disagreed.

Scott-Crossley’s R250 000 bail was cancelled and he was sent back to detention in jail for the duration of his trial shortly after it started in January, after he was found to have intimidated a witness, Forget Tsako Ndlovu, 19, by grabbing the front of his T-shirt and muttering something to him.

The investigating officer in the case, Inspector David Hlatshwayo, went on to tell the court he had found Scott-Crossley unco-operative and “very cheeky” at the time of his arrest on February 8 last year.

Among others, Scott-Crossley has accused Maluleke of bias. This came earlier in the trial when the judge made remarks on an element of Scott-Crossley’s evidence in chief.

Scott-Crossley later apologised and Maluleke warned him the court would not tolerate that kind of behaviour.

It undermined the dignity of the court and did not do the accused any good either. Scott-Crossley had been treated with the utmost courtesy at all times during the trial. Indeed, anyone who participated in a trial had to treated as a human being, the judge said.

Scott-Crossley’s brother, Sean, told reporters earlier in the year the convicted man was, among others, in pain because of a growth in the middle of the nail of one of his big toes.

Contrary to a court instruction, Scott-Crossley was not operated on by a specialist during a court adjournment, according to the brother. Hoedspruit police, apparently citing a lack of resources, had refused to transport him to Randburg, Gauteng, where the operation was to have been carried out.

Source: IOL
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…br>
The trial continues. – Sapa