Court frees Dalton from sin bin
Pretoria - Hatfield community court acquitted former Springbok hooker James Dalton on Thursday on charges of malicious injury to property and firing a 9mm pistol in a public area.
Dalton, 33, was arrested on February 14 when he reported to Brooklyn police after they told him of the case against him. He was later released on warning.
Dalton pleaded not guilty to the two charges on Thursday.
The complainant, Jade de Canna, was the only witness called.
De Canna said he had closed the News Cafe where he was manager, in a plaza opposite Menlyn shopping mall, at 03:30 on December 16 last year and went to a nearby restaurant, Dac's.
He saw Dalton when he entered.
Court told of U-turns, shots
According to De Canna, there was "bad blood" between Dalton and De Canna's father, who had bought Dalton's wife's BMW three-series car.
This was the vehicle De Canna was driving.
De Canna said: "I saw the accused and two friends leaving. They got into Mr Dalton's vehicle, also a BMW three-series. Mr Dalton drove."
De Canna claimed that Dalton stopped behind his car, drove past, made a U-turn and came back.
After making another U-turn, the vehicle drove past De Canna's car again and five shots were fired at it, causing damage of R13 500.
When questioned by Oeloff de Meyer, for Dalton, De Canna insisted that Dalton had been driving.
He then said the shots were fired from the passenger side of the suspected vehicle.
De Meyer asked how De Canna could saw Dalton had fired the shots.
"It would be ludicrous for a driver to fire past a passenger's face.
"There is nothing to indicate that Mr Dalton fired those shots. It is just an assumption you made," said De Meyer.
De Canna agreed. The lawyer said he and the prosecutor had been outside to look at Dalton's vehicle.
It was a BMW 530D-series.
De Canna said: "The vehicle from which the shots came did not have a number plate or badges on it, except for the BMW emblem. I believed it was a three-series,".
Magistrate not convinced
After the State closed its case, De Meyer applied for Dalton's discharge, saying there was no evidence to link his client to this incident.
The State did not object.
Magistrate Dreyer van der Merwe said he was not convinced by the evidence that Dalton did fire the shots.
"I have to find that the State, with the evidence at its disposal, could not make a prima facie case."
News source: www.news24.co.za
Posted by: www.SouthAfrica-CarHire.com
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