Vicki Momberg continued with racist ranting behind bars
South Africa's first convicted racist reportedly lived up to her reputation for subjecting black officials to racist tirades while in jail.
Vicky Momberg leaves court in cornrows on 4 April 2018. Photo: Amanda Watson
Convicted racist Vicki Momberg was charged twice while in jail for “verbal assaults” against prison officials, TimesLive has reported.
The estate agent, currently out on bail, called correctional officers “uneducated and immature”, according to department of correctional services spokesperson Mocheta Monama.
According to Monama, when prison wardens were tasked with taking Momberg back to her cell after court, they were subjected to a verbal assault using language so foul that, according to The Sowetan, it “could not be repeated”.
The Citizen reported on Friday morning that Momberg was back on the streets after she was granted bail on Thursday ahead of her appeal against her conviction and effective two-year jail sentence for crimen injuria for using the k-word.
The state had not opposed the R2 000 bail suggested by the defence, since Momberg had been behind bars for four months and had not been employed, and so could only afford that amount.
READ MORE: Vicki Momberg granted R2,000 bail
During her bail hearing, her lawyer objected to her being shackled, saying it impaired her dignity.
The former estate agent was found guilty on four counts of crimen injuria in November 2017 after a racist tirade that saw her use the k-word 47 times when speaking to a police officer who was trying to help her after she was the victim of a smash-and-grab incident.
Crimen injuria is defined as a wilful injury to someone’s dignity, caused by the use of obscene or racially offensive language or gestures.
Her lawyer, Kingdom Onah, now has 15 days to submit his heads of argument to the High Court in Johannesburg about why his client’s conviction and sentence should be overturned.
It’s understood Onah will claim the video showing Momberg’s racist rant was tampered with; that she had no intent to harm, as she was in shock at the time; and that insufficient weight was given to her medical report by Dr Leon Fine, which found the accused was suffering from sane automatism (temporary insanity) at the time of the incident.
This is the same report that found Momberg could tell the difference from right and wrong, which she disputes.
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