Convicted Vicki Momberg is currently back in jail, and although her lawyer claims she was unlawfully arrested, a cloud of possible new charges is now hanging over her head.
Momberg was sentenced to two years in prison earlier this year after strangling a policeman and using the k-word a total of 48 times. She was out on bail pending an appeal process, but allegedly missed several deadlines related to it.
Police have been searching for her since Aug. 1, after a warrant was issued for her arrest. This is related to her crimen injuria case. On Wednesday, she then surrendered to Douglasdale police in Johannesburg.
The Johannesburg High Court in June this year rejected her application for leave to appeal.
The court extended her bail and granted her 30 days to appeal directly to the appeals court. If she did not do so, she would have to report to the court to serve the rest of her sentence.
When Momberg allegedly missed her deadlines, the authorities obtained a warrant and then apparently searched for her over three months without any success. Momberg denies she missed the deadlines.
According to the Human Rights Commission (HRC), she also failed to comply with an order from the Equality Court in 2017.
‘Her rights have been violated’
Sukdeo on Wednesday argued in Randburg Magistrate’s Court that his client’s rights were violated because she was arrested after she filed her appeal on time. He also argued that she had been arrested without a warrant.
According to Sukdeo, the Supreme Court’s order did not specify whether or not the deadline of “30 days” includes weekends and public holidays.
Momberg apparently submitted her application on August 13 – “the last day of her 30 days”.
According to Sukdeo, Momberg, along with the appeal, filed an application for condonation (apology for late submission), “although it was not necessary because she was on time”.
“The National Director of Public Prosecutions accepted the condonation application,” Sukdeo argued.
He, therefore, argued that the warrant was premature and asked Magistrate Pravina Raghunandan to set it aside.
However, Raghunandan said she could not hear the case because she signed the warrant on August 1.
