Convicted perlemoen poacher and racketeering kingpin Julian Brown and his two co-accused may have to wait for a while to hear whether their applications for leave to appeal against their lengthy prison sentences will be granted.
Brown, 32, Brandon Turner, 38, and Eugene Victor, 33, were convicted in February on charges ranging from contravening the Marine Living Resources Act to racketeering, while Victor was convicted on a string of other charges, including fraud and forgery.
While Turner and Victor each received an effective 15year sentence, Brown, who was found to be the mastermind behind an illegal perlemoen poaching enterprise, was sentenced to an effective 18 years behind bars.
On Tuesday, defence advocate Terry Price SC told Port Elizabeth High Court judge Mandela Makaula that it was his submission that Makaula had erred in certain aspects of judgment and sentence.
According to Price, Makaula erred in not finding certain state witnesses to be terrible witnesses, that some of the search warrants in the investigation were invalid and that the court allowed hearsay evidence to be placed on record.
None of the three men were in court on Tuesday.
Price said the evidence by state witness Renier Ellerbeck specifically should not have been considered because of his dubious background.
According to Price, Ellerbeck had conspired with police officers to frame Brown, and that on its own was reason enough to appeal against his sentence. Price said further that there was no direct evidence of Brown’s involvement in the illegal poaching of perlemoen because he was not found with anything on him to indicate it.
State prosecutor advocate Martin le Roux said on the merits of the appeal alone, there were no reasonable prospects an appeal, specifically for Brown, would be successful.
In his 144-page judgment Makaula said evidence led by the state had proven beyond doubt that Brown, along with Victor and Turner, had established and managed an extensive perlemoen poaching enterprise in Port Elizabeth from January 2015 to April 2016.
Judgment was reserved.
Judgment reserved on perlemoen kingpin Julian Brown's appeal bids
Image: Eugene Coetzee
Convicted perlemoen poacher and racketeering kingpin Julian Brown and his two co-accused may have to wait for a while to hear whether their applications for leave to appeal against their lengthy prison sentences will be granted.
Brown, 32, Brandon Turner, 38, and Eugene Victor, 33, were convicted in February on charges ranging from contravening the Marine Living Resources Act to racketeering, while Victor was convicted on a string of other charges, including fraud and forgery.
While Turner and Victor each received an effective 15year sentence, Brown, who was found to be the mastermind behind an illegal perlemoen poaching enterprise, was sentenced to an effective 18 years behind bars.
On Tuesday, defence advocate Terry Price SC told Port Elizabeth High Court judge Mandela Makaula that it was his submission that Makaula had erred in certain aspects of judgment and sentence.
According to Price, Makaula erred in not finding certain state witnesses to be terrible witnesses, that some of the search warrants in the investigation were invalid and that the court allowed hearsay evidence to be placed on record.
None of the three men were in court on Tuesday.
Price said the evidence by state witness Renier Ellerbeck specifically should not have been considered because of his dubious background.
According to Price, Ellerbeck had conspired with police officers to frame Brown, and that on its own was reason enough to appeal against his sentence. Price said further that there was no direct evidence of Brown’s involvement in the illegal poaching of perlemoen because he was not found with anything on him to indicate it.
State prosecutor advocate Martin le Roux said on the merits of the appeal alone, there were no reasonable prospects an appeal, specifically for Brown, would be successful.
In his 144-page judgment Makaula said evidence led by the state had proven beyond doubt that Brown, along with Victor and Turner, had established and managed an extensive perlemoen poaching enterprise in Port Elizabeth from January 2015 to April 2016.
Judgment was reserved.
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