Mountain fire: Man 'has record'
Cape Town - The British national who allegedly started a fire on Table Mountain in January that claimed the life of an elderly woman tourist has a South African criminal record, it was disclosed in Cape Town regional court on Wednesday.
Nor was he a "true tourist" on holiday in Cape Town at the time the fire started, prosecutor Nation Loliwe told the court.
Loliwe made the disclosures when Anthony Cooper made his first appearance in the regional court before magistrate Arnold Loubser, after a string of appearances in the magistrate's court.
Loliwe secured a postponement to August 18 despite objections from defence attorney Reaz Khan who said the case had been "getting nowhere" since Cooper's arrest in January.
Khan said Cooper was without income, and needed to get back to his job in London.
He said Cooper was staying with a friend, but did not want to publicly disclose the address.
Call for formal inquest
Loliwe told the court Cooper had two previous convictions incurred in South Africa - in 2001 and 2002 - and this suggested that Cooper had been in South Africa much longer than thought.
Loliwe did not say what the convictions were for.
Khan demanded the withdrawal of the arson and culpable homicide charges, which Loliwe opposed.
Loliwe told the court the pathologist who did the post-mortem had been unable to determine the cause of the woman's death, and the case would be referred to the local directorate for public prosecutions (DPP) with a request for a formal inquest.
Loliwe said he also wanted a second post-mortem report from the pathologist, and would hand him the docket itself, to help him to determine the cause of death.
Loliwe said he also needed expert advice from the DPP about the possibility of adding statutory violations to the charges.
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