Michael Trapido

One of the major disappointments of the Brett Kebble murder trial was the fact that in granting Glenn Agliotti a section 174 discharge at the close of the state’s case we were unable to see whether Lawrence Hodes SC was going to raise the issue of assisted suicide during the defence. As many will recall […]

The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, is now the subject matter of an Interpol red notice following a request from Sweden where a warrant for his arrest, based upon charges of rape, has been issued. In addition the United States has also launched a criminal investigation related to the leaking of US government information by […]

Annelie Botes, an Afrikaans author, told Rapport newspaper that she doesn’t like black people, she doesn’t understand them and while she knows that they are people just like her, with the same rights as her she avoids them because she is scared of them. She blames black people for South Africa’s violent crime problem, which […]

Judges Gregory Kruger and Hennie Lacock in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Monday dismissed the appeal of Judge Nkola Motata against his conviction and sentence — a R20 000 fine or 12 months in jail — by magistrate Desmond Nair in September 2009. The appellant had crashed his Jaguar through the wall of […]

With the arrest of a third man by Western Cape police on Saturday and the indication that the authorities have a state witness, the case of the honeymoon murder and hijacking of Anni Dewani, a British tourist, in Gugulethu is starting to come together. On Friday, the first man arrested, Xolile Mngeni, appeared in the […]

When the National Prosecuting Authority decided against charging two boys aged 14 and 16 for the gang rape of a 15-year-old Jules High School girl the public were outraged. The general view being held was that the criminal justice system in this country had gone to hell and was a major cause of the unacceptably […]

The statement released by the African National Congress in respect of the granting of bail to ANC Northern Cape Chairperson John Block should be warmly welcomed. It is a document that every member of the African National Congress Youth League should read after their Northern Cape Youth League attacked National Prosecuting Authority head Menzi Simelane. […]

Advocate Laurence Hodes SC, at the close of the state’s case in the Brett Kebble murder trial in the High Court in Johannesburg, applied for the discharge of his client — murder accused Glenn Agliotti — on all four charges. Agliotti is accused of two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of attempted […]

Every school child knows that Chile is a country in South America which occupies the long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps they might also know that along with Ecuador it is one of two countries in South America which do not border Brazil. Over and above that — […]

While Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is undoubtedly the worst role model Africa has ever had — and that includes Idi Amin — that does not explain the strange claims that are being made by expatriate and X Factor reject Gamu Nhengu who suggests that if she were to be deported there would be a “firing […]