Former lawyer Malesela Teffo proceeded to annoy the court by finding new excuses to refuse to cooperate with the police. Teffo was scheduled to appear in court for the fourth time on Wednesday, but, as he did last week, he refused to enter.
However, as the state was preparing to postpone the case, officials requested a 20-minute adjournment in order to encourage him to stand in the dock. Teffo arrived half an hour later, wearing a light olive green jacket and a somewhat grown beard.
Teffo has still not presented the police with his fingerprints fifteen days after his arrest, preventing him from being properly charged. Instead, he devised a number of excuses to stall the legal procedures, each of which perplexed the state.
State prosecutor Maggie Sekati said she consulted Teffo’s new counsel, Eddie Maloba, earlier on Wednesday when Teffo agreed to have his fingerprints taken downstairs in the cells.
“That is when the commander was informed to send two police officers to do so, and we got information that the accused still refused for his fingerprints to be obtained,” Sekati said.
When asked why he refused to produce fingerprints, Teffo sought to take the stand to explain, but Magistrate Lidia Painter refused. Teffo then expressed “confusion” over why there was more than one person on the prosecutor’s side, claiming he didn’t know who the prosecutor was.
He requested that the investigating officer be removed from the courtroom, alleging that his presence made him uncomfortable because the officer had manhandled him when he apprehended him.
Painter also declined the second request, saying “I am not willing to make an order that the investigating officer shouldn’t be in court. He is the investigating officer and it’s in the interests of justice for him to be here.”
Teffo then confronted the prosecutor, claiming he didn’t know who was prosecuting the case because there were other people seated around him.
“Since the accused’s first appearance, I have been addressing court as the state prosecutor and the court would note that in this courtroom, there is more than one clerk, media personnel and police officers assigned to the court.”
Teffo requested a 10-minute pause because he needed to meet with his lawyer, Maloba. When he returned to the dock, he accused the court of bias and asked Painter to recuse herself.
Painter refused the plea once more, claiming she had no bias. The case was rescheduled for September 6 to allow for the collection of many witness statements and the submission of Teffo’s fingerprints.
The former counsel is accused of violence, theft, malicious property damage, possession of stolen items, and contempt of court. He is suspected of breaking into a City Property office and assaulting a security guard before fleeing with an R1,500 door handle.
