Beuthin wins court orders

Beuthin shuffled out of the courtroom victorious.

The judge awarded him three crucial orders in his battle against prison authorities over what he describes as "cruel, inhumane and degrading" treatment.

On Tuesday, Johannesburg High Court Judge Phillip Boruchowitz lashed out at the Department of Correctional Services and gave its lawyers a week to explain why Beuthin's application - with Minister Ngconde Balfour as first respondent - has gone unanswered and unopposed.
 

He claimed he had been moved from prison to prison six times

Judge Boruchowitz also ruled that the prisoner must immediately be given his medication and told why his parole was revoked without a hearing.

In his application, Beuthin - on trial for an attack on former Hell's Angel Eduard Jacobs last year - asked the court to put a stop to the "victimisation and intimidation" he was subjected to at Johannesburg Prison.

He claimed he had been moved from prison to prison six times, which had hampered his preparation for his upcoming trial, and asked for the "unlawful transfers" to stop.

Beuthin said he was forbidden from socialising with other prisoners, denied a chance to exercise on the very gym equipment he donated while serving 15 years for assaulting his former girlfriend, and was not being given medicine for a chronic bone infection.

Beuthin has also asked the court to force Correctional Services to give him feedback on his various requests and pay the costs of his application, which he is presenting in court himself.
 

'I am being hampered in my preparation and legal consultation with my legal matters'

The former bouncer was on parole when he was arrested on November 20 for kidnapping Jacobs and beating him with a baseball bat.

But, he claims, he has not violated his parole conditions and has asked for a formal hearing to oppose the revoking. If successful, the ruling may pave the way for his bail application.

"I have become rather desperate in the circumstance," Beuthin wrote in his affidavit. "Due to the fact that I am on a regular basis being intimidated and victimised.

"I am being hampered in my preparation and legal consultation with my legal matters."

Judge Boruchowitz was unimpressed that the time for replying affidavits had lapsed without explanation, that the lawyer in court was not briefed on the case and that the person who was could not be reached.

"Why is nothing done?" and "that's not an answer!", the judge repeated before postponing the case to Tuesday.