White River court withdraws criminal charge, 95 Libyan nationals set to be deported
The 95 accused were expected to appear in the White River Magistrate’s Court on August 26, but made their appearance today, after an application to withdraw the case had been granted.
The White River Magistrate’s Court’s Magistrate Edward Hall granted the withdrawal of the criminal charge of contravention of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 against the 95 Libyan nationals who were arrested during a bust at the Milites Dei Security Services training centre outside White River on July 26.
Although the accused were expected to appear in court on August 26 for further investigation, their legal representative, Adv Nico du Plessis, said they had appeared in court today, August 15, to hear the outcome of the application to withdraw the case made to the acting Director of Public Prosecutions.
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“We made representations to the acting Director of Public Prosecutions in Mpumalanga that the matter must be withdrawn, and yesterday [August 14], we were addressed to be in court today. All the people are relieved and happy that they can finally go home. As far as we know, there are no other outstanding matters. The Department of Home Affairs is arranging their deportation to Benghazi, Libya, which is expected in the next 48 hours,” said Du Plessis.
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The Mpumalanga spokesperson for the National Prosecution Authority, Monica Nyuswa, said the State withdrew the case due to insufficient evidence for a conviction. “The docket was studied and the representations made by the defence were considered in the decision made to withdraw the charges as the evidence was not enough to convict them.”
