A pregnant Cape Town woman walked free after a four-month wait to go on trial for alleged possession of the drug tik.
|||A pregnant Cape Town woman walked free on Thursday after a four-month wait to go on trial for alleged possession of the drug tik.
Goodwood District Court Magistrate Sean Lea ruled that the case against Robin Rietels, 23, had been on the roll too long.
Rietels was arrested in December, but failed to make her second court appearance after her release on bail.
She was taken back into custody and as she stepped into the dock, Lea asked: “Where were you on March 19?”
She said she was heavily pregnant, had fallen ill and gone to a doctor.
However, she did not have a medical certificate as proof.
Asked why she had not returned to court the next day to explain her absence, she replied she was afraid that she might be kept there.
The magistrate remarked that she deserved a fine for her absence, but said she was unlikely to pay this and would only end up back in prison.
“Keeping you in custody would be at the taxpayer's expense, and because your case has been pending for too long, I am scrapping it from the roll and you are free to go,” he said. - Sapa