complainant lied in a statement- police refuse to provide the statement

S

saturnz

Honorary Master
Joined
May 3, 2005
Messages
25,012
Reaction score
6,211
I'll try to keep this brief

* someone I know had to respond to a complaint of assault laid by the police station
* the only footage available of the incident shows that no such assault took place- no bruises, wounds, no witnesses or anything
* the accused goes to the police station to give his side of the story- a court appearance date is set, no arrest is made or charges laid
* while waiting for the court appearance, the guy's picture is posted on social media and even a newspaper article is published where he is once again accused of assault
* the accused goes to court with a lawyer, and the complaint is withdrawn by the senior prosecutor before reaching the judge
* accused is informed the accuser lied, accused wants to take things further, but cannot demonstrate the accuser is lying without the original complaint laid at the police station
*accused requests to see this complaint and detective refuses to show him, effectively making it difficult for him to proceed

so now what?

edit: accused has no money, lives in a shack, the lawyer was sponsored
 
saturnz said:
I'll try to keep this brief

* someone I know had to respond to a complaint of assault laid by the police station
* the only footage available of the incident shows that no such assault took place- no bruises, wounds, no witnesses or anything
* the accused goes to the police station to give his side of the story- a court appearance date is set, no arrest is made or charges laid
* while waiting for the court appearance, the guy's picture is posted on social media and even a newspaper article is published where he is once again accused of assault
* the accused goes to court with a lawyer, and the complaint is withdrawn by the senior prosecutor before reaching the judge
* accused is informed the accuser lied, accused wants to take things further, but cannot demonstrate the accuser is lying without the original complaint laid at the police station
*accused requests to see this complaint and detective refuses to show him, effectively making it difficult for him to proceed

so now what?

edit: accused has no money, lives in a shack, the lawyer was sponsored
Click to expand...

Wasn't the statement part of the case docket, lawyer should have had access to that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pax
saturnz said:
accused requests to see this complaint and detective refuses to show him, effectively making it difficult for him to proceed

so now what?
Click to expand...

Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) - Overview

Contacts: 473 Benstra Building Stanza Bopape Street Arcadia Pretoria Tel: 012 399 0000 Overview: <p>The mission of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) is to be an effective independent and impartial investigating and oversight body that is co...
nationalgovernment.co.za nationalgovernment.co.za
 
What is the point of this? I would say the best recourse would be to have the publications submit an update that the case was withdrawn.
A defamation case will likely be difficult and expensive and not really worth the effort.
 
What do you mean by "accused wants to take things further"? Civil proceeding?

During the court proceedings the lawyer should have had access to the docket with statements of both parties involved. Unfortunately the only way you'd be able to get a copy of the statement now is during a civil proceeding when the lawyer can use the normal exploratory processes (subpoena) to obtain the statement.

Unfortunately access to information requests won't apply in this situation as a copy of the statement would be needed for civil proceedings, where access to information does not apply.
 
krieg said:
Wasn't the statement part of the case docket, lawyer should have had access to that.
Click to expand...
Crusader said:
What do you mean by "accused wants to take things further"? Civil proceeding?

During the court proceedings the lawyer should have had access to the docket with statements of both parties involved. Unfortunately the only way you'd be able to get a copy of the statement now is during a civil proceeding when the lawyer can use the normal exploratory processes (subpoena) to obtain the statement.

Unfortunately access to information requests won't apply in this situation as a copy of the statement would be needed for civil proceedings, where access to information does not apply.
Click to expand...

there was no court proceedings, the complaint was withdrawn by the prosecutor before it could reach the court

the accused actually just wants the accuser to be held accountable for lying, because no assault took place

the sponsored lawyer is no longer willing to provide services, his job was defense and this is no longer defense but your explanation does assist
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X