The magistrate’s fairness in handling the case of Pastor Paseka ‘Mboro’ Motsoeneng has been questioned by the State, raising concerns about her credibility.
On Monday, the State requested that Magistrate Katlego Mokoena withdraw herself from the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court due to concerns about bias in the decision-making process.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Magistrate Mokoena summoned Motsoeneng’s defense team to her chambers without the State present and reportedly told them to ‘correct’ the badly drafted affidavit before presenting an application based on fresh facts.
“Furthermore, she allegedly made inappropriate remarks to the prosecutor that he was hard towards Motsoeneng and his co-accused,” the NPA’s Phindi Mjonondwane said.
She added that earlier this month, the State claimed that Mokoena enrolled the case, brought by the applicants without the required documentation.
“The proper requisition would have allowed her to entertain them and failed to probe why the applicants were before her with a new counsel and not the counsel on record,” Mjonondwane said.
“The State is of the view that the above mentioned circumstances brought her conduct into question as she had the opportunity to ventilate these aspects appropriately during the bail hearing, which is in its nature, inquisitorial and a fact finding mission. The state had to bring this application to ensure that this hearing proceeded with fairness and without bias,” the NPA added.
The court will deliver its judgment on Wednesday.