Another court delay for Thulsie twins

The terror-accused Thulsie twins have launched an 11th-hour bid to have their case thrown out of court.

On Wednesday – on the day their long-anticipated trial was scheduled to finally start in the High Court in Johannesburg – the Thulsies brought an application to have their case struck from the roll on a technicality.

Their legal team argues the twins should in fact be on trial in the regional court – where they first appeared after they were arrested in 2016 – and that the transfer of their case to the high court was “irregular”.

The state, however, maintains the process was above board.

READ MORE: Thulsie twins stay in jail as bail bid fails

Police swooped on Tony-Lee and Brandon-Lee Thulsie during raids in Newclare and Azaadville on the West Rand in July 2016 – after one of the brothers had allegedly disclosed plans to carry out terror attacks in South Africa to an undercover FBI agent from the United States.

Their alleged targets included the US embassy, the UK High Commission, the South Africa Zionist Federation, King
David High School and arms manufacturer Denel.

The Thulsie twins at the Johannesburg High Court, 27 January 2021. They are facing charges of terrorism and have been in custody since they were arrested in July 2016. Picture: Neil McCartney

The charges brought against the pair were some of the first to be brought under the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act, after it was enacted in 2004.

And were they to be found guilty, theirs would the first conviction under the new Act.

But their case has been hamstrung by delays and they have not yet even tendered their pleas.

Abu Bakr Omar – who recently replaced Anneline van der Heever as the Thulsies’ advocate –  said they were ready for trial, but that the issue around the transfer of the case had to be resolved first.

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“My clients want to have their day in court,” he said.

Omar argued that in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act, a case only fell to be transferred if the court it was first
enrolled in did not have jurisdiction to try it.

And, he said, this had not been the case in these circumstances because the regional court, too, had the jurisdiction to
try terrorism cases.

Further, he argued, the decision itself should have been made by the regional magistrate who was initially allocated the case, yet it was made by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

The Thulsie twins at the Johannesburg High Court, 27 January 2021. They are facing charges of terrorism and have been in custody since they were arrested in July 2016. Picture: Neil McCartney

Presiding officer Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng asked if it really made a difference if a person appeared in the regional
or high court.

But Omar was adamant it did. “It’s expensive to for a matter to run in the high court,” he replied.

State advocate Adele Barnard, however, argued it was late in the game to be raising this issue.

“It is submitted that if there was indeed such an irregularity, this issue should have been brought to the court’s attention at the time when this matter appeared for the first time in the high court,” she said.

Barnard said there was a very simple reason the state had applied to transfer the case.

“The state intends to seek life imprisonment in the event of conviction,” she said, adding the regional court did not have jurisdiction to impose life sentences.

A ruling on the application is expected next week.

The Thulsie twins at the Johannesburg High Court, 27 January 2021. They are facing charges of terrorism and have been in custody since they were arrested in July 2016. Picture: Neil McCartney

– bernadettew@citizen.co.za

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