Last Friday, while most South Africans were wrestling each other for cheap toilet paper, two men had their own black Friday when they heard their fate in their respective courts. Christopher Panayiotou received a life sentence for the murder of his wife, Jayde. The interesting thing about this case was that he did not do […]
The allegations (some prefer “revelations”) of tax impropriety against President Zuma made in Jacques Pauw’s book, The President’s Keepers, make me think of the equality clause in section 9 of the Constitution, as well as the provision of Tax statutes in South Africa. I am reminded of the pre-election public debate between Nelson Mandela and […]
I have come across a few estates where the deceased has left a will and the children are appointed as the heirs. A maintenance claim was then lodged against the estate by the surviving spouse. The children would then argue that the spouse is not entitled to the maintenance and lodged an objection against the […]
Recently snapshots of CCTV footage of a suspected car thief were posted and distributed on social media. The suspected thief was acquitted by the court, after he argued that his conviction was based on a prejudicial identity parade, because his face had been all over social media before the identity parade. Sounds peculiar, but this […]
A polygraph test, also called a “lie detector test”, is used to determine whether a person is telling the truth. It is very important to note that polygraph tests must be conducted voluntarily and the consent to be examined must be in writing. Polygraph results are mostly used to assist investigators by pointing out the […]
On Thursday last week, Christopher Panayiotou and his co-accused were convicted of the murder of his wife, Jayde. Do yourself a favour and read the entire judgment. Following a high profile trial in the media gives you a bit of a disjointed picture of the case. As you read the reports of each day’s […]
I can recall my gran telling us that she grew up with the saying, “Spare the rod and spoil the child”, which simply meant that if a children were not disciplined, they would not learn obedience and good manners. Discipline could mean anything from verbal chastisement to the use of physical force, like a […]