Leave to appeal discussed in Rameez Patel case
Rameez Patel had applied for relaxed bail conditions in order to travel domestically to attend to family and business matters.
POLOKWANE – The outcome of Rameez Patel’s application for leave to appeal from the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) will be discussed in the Limpopo High Court (Polokwane Division) today (Thursday).
If the appeal application is denied, the Polokwane businessman’s counsel may propose to call another witness to prove the need for the applications, in the 2015 murder case of his wife.
Patel’s legal representative, Meshack Thipe announced this intention to the court in September, after presiding Judge Joseph Raulinga denied two of the accused’s applications made earlier in the year. An appeal application was launched two months ago.
Patel had applied for relaxed bail conditions in order to travel domestically to attend to family and business matters. In the other appeal matter, which was also denied, Patel’s counsel asked that his brother Razeen, who is a key state witness, be called back to testify for the defence.
Raulinga denied both applications and emphasised that the second application would qualify as a conflict of interest if granted, as Razeen had been called previously to testify for the state.
The murder charge brought against him for the death of his mother, was provisionally withdrawn in 2021 due to a lack of evidence. Although never linked to these incidents, Patel’s father was shot and killed in a robbery, and his brother survived an attempt on his life in Mankweng. In 2019, Patel brought an application for leave to have him discharged in his wife’s murder case, but this was dismissed.
Raulinga, who was against the call for a second witness should the SCA dismiss the applications, insisted on finding out who the witness would be, sentiments shared by the prosecutor representing the state.
The defence, however, said this would not be divulged as it “was unethical to make a pre-determination about a call that is up to the SCA to make, without it being present”.
Meanwhile, to monitor progress effectively in the SCA application, the judge proposed that the registrar should provide feedback timeously until the matter resumes in the high court.
