Generations actress Maggie Benedict case postponed again
Generations actress Maggie Benedict appeared in court briefly on Thursday afternoon as her shoplifting case was postponed for a second time since her arrest in December.
FILE PICTURE: Generations actress Maggie Benedict, also known as Akhona arrives with her lawyer, Jonathan Kaiser at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, 13 February 2014. The case was postponed. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark
The actress is accused of allegedly stealing a packet of Panado tablets worth R17.90 at Checkers in Cresta Mall, Johannesburg.
She was originally detained at Linden police station, where she was released and warned to appear before the Randburg Magistrates Court.
The case was postponed earlier in January because the CCTV footage of the alleged shoplifting incident could not be transferred onto the defence team’s computer.
The actress walked up to court accompanied by her attorney and seemed calm and relaxed, dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and head scarf.
The proceedings took less than ten minutes and she used the back entrance to leave the court.
Both the defence and state asked the magistrate for postponement after going to view the video footage on Thursday morning.
The state asked for a postponement on the basis that the video footage seen by both the state and the defence was inconclusive and would not help the state make a decision on whether or not to go forward with the case.
According to Benedict’s attorney Jonathan Kaiser the footage did not show Benedict committing any crime, and that from the footage she could only be seen leaving the shop.
“The evidence that the state has is circumstantial,” said Kaiser.
Kaiser said that they would use this team to make a formal representation to the court to have the case dismissed.
“Because of the value of the alleged crime, it will surely be better not to proceed both for my client and that state,” said Kaiser.
Benedict who plays Akhona in the popular SABC 1 soapie will appear in Randburg Magistrates court again on 27 February.
