S v Nkohla

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Judge: Ebrahim J
• Judgment Date: 11 March 2004
• Docket Number: CA & R 10/04
• Court: Ciskei High Court
• Hearing Date: 11 March 2004
• Citation: 2004 JDR 0043 (CkH)

Ebrahim J:

1.

This matter came on automatic review pursuant to the provisions of s 302 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 ('CPA').

2.

In the Court a quo the accused was convicted of the offence of theft and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of twenty months of which half was conditionally suspended for a period of four years.

3.

Certain queries were addressed to the magistrate of which the following are relevant for the purpose of this judgment, namely:

'1.

Why were certain words re-written in the hand-written record of the trial proceedings? Is the magistrate not aware that the original record should be preserved in its original form and may not be altered or defaced or re-written?

2.

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2004 JDR 0043 p2

Ebrahim J

3.

Why did the magistrate consider that a period of imprisonment for twenty months, of which half was conditionally suspended for four years, was an appropriate sentence when the accused had four previous convictions for theft and five for housebreaking with the intention to steal and theft committed over the past fifteen years?'

4.

In a lengthy explanation the magistrate stated, inter alia, the following:

'When I finalised this case I had been in this office for less than a month, I had recently been transferred from another office. Therefore the Typist in this office was not familiar with my handwriting. She could not read my handwriting unless I sat next to her all the time and read the proceedings aloud to her whilst she was typing. Most of the time it was impossible for me to sit with her because I had other work to do. In that case she would come to the magistrate whenever she came across an illegible word and ask what it was that I had written. She would then write the same word in her own clear handwriting above the word even when she was typing in my absence.

......................................................................................................

In some instances she would rearrange some illegible words in such a way that they became legible to her so that she could type even in my absence. What I noticed was that she was using a pen when doing all this. She could have at least used a lead pencil. Words written with a lead pencil could have been easily erased when typing was finished. That way the hand-written record could have remained clean, with no re-written...