- S v De Bruin, Case no: 6359/2024, High Court Bloemfontein, dated 25 November 2024 (FB)
By Brig Dirk Lambrechts
Image courtesy of FreePik
Introduction
On Saturday morning 9 November 2024, Judge J P Daffue of the High Court in Bloemfontein, was on urgent court duty (on standby).
He received notification of an urgent bail application and soon thereafter, the application papers were filed. At the time set down for the hearing, the legal representatives of Mr P J H de Bruin (hereinafter referred to as the accused), and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Bloemfontein (“the DPP”), approached Judge Daffue in chambers, confirming that they had reached an agreement for the release of the accused on bail, subject to certain conditions.
Judge Daffue, on the same Saturday, granted the following order by agreement between the parties, while bearing in mind that ordinarily a High Court is not the court to consider bail applications:
“1. Bail is set at R5000, and on the further condition that the accused shall not interfere with, or intimidate the complainant and/or any other potential State witnesses and/or contact or discuss the complaint against him with any State witnesses or potential State witnesses, a list of State witnesses to be provided to the accused by the investigating officer forthwith.
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[This is only an extract of an article published in Servamus: September 2026. This article is available for purchase.]