A Port Elizabeth High Court judge appeared bemused on Friday when accused perlemoen poacher Julian Brown asked for a reduction of his bail – so he could keep up with his rapidly rising legal costs.
Brown asked the court to reduce his R800,000 bail so that he could pay his legal counsel.
Attorney Alwyn Griebenow said Brown was not in a position to take on other work and was indebted to his counsel, advocate Terry Price SC.
“This matter has taken a considerable amount of time, especially in light of the list of charges [against Brown],” Griebenow said.
Brown, 32, along with Eugene “Bosman” Victor, 33, and Brandon Turner, 38, have been waiting nearly two months for the outcome of the case against them after judge Mandela Makaula said in September he was not yet ready to deliver his judgment.
The matter was postponed to Thursday, but Makaula again said he was not ready and after apologising to all the parties said he would hand down judgment on February 5.
The trio have pleaded not guilty to charges including the illegal poaching of perlemoen, racketeering and money laundering.
Griebenow is Brown’s instructing attorney and Price is his senior counsel.
Price brought the application for the reduction in Brown’s bail and called Griebenow to the witness stand to detail why the court should reduce it.
He did not suggest by how much it should be reduced.
Price further brought an application for Victor to be released on bail after he was arrested when he failed to appear in court for the trial.
Griebenow said he had on several occasions spoken to the state regarding reducing Brown’s bail, but there was no agreement and the state had refused each time.
“One of the purposes for the high amount for bail is to ensure the accused attends the trial. There has never been an allegation that [Brown] was a flight risk.
“[Brown] has never been late for court.
“[Brown] has several loans he is repaying which he had to acquire in order to run his [construction] business,” Griebenow said.
Although Brown had been paying toward his outstanding legal fees there was still “a large amount outstanding,” Griebenow said.
Makaula indicated that he had never heard of an application to reduce bail in order to pay legal fees.
Griebenow said the Criminal Procedure Act did make provisions for it and he and Price had successfully applied for a reduction of bail in a racketeering case in Kimberley.
“One client had his R500,000 bail reduced to a warning,” Griebenow said.
Price told Makaula that he would supply the court with papers regarding the Kimberly matter, including the judgment.
Griebenow said that during his time as a prosecutor and defence attorney in Port Elizabeth he had never heard of bail being set at R800,000.
Prosecutor advocate Martin le Roux said Price was intertwining the need for money to pay accounts and new facts after Griebenow informed the court that after Brown was released on bail following his June 2016 arrest he was handed back his passport.
But according to Griebenow Brown immediately contacted the investigating officer in the matter and gave in his passport on his own accord.
Makaula postponed the matter to November 30 for arguments before he would make a ruling on the applications.