South Africa: Swearing advocate: I was drunk

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when at first we practice to deceive. My previous post about the Western Cape advocate who swore at a judge just gets better and better. Usually when someone starts lying, they end up having to tell more and more porkies to get out of the hole they dig. This ingenious advocate is now saying that he was drunk whilst in court i.e drunk on the job, and that's the reason he told a judge to F-off (amongst other things). Not only has he admitted to being drunk in court, but seeing as he was drinking spirits whilst waiting for his car to be fixed roadside, that would mean that he then also drove under the influence to court (BTW - what's an advocate doing with alco-pops in his car?). Me thinks swearing at a judge appears to be the least of his worries now......

 

The advocate who swore at Western Cape High Court judge Lee Bozalek claims he was drunk at the time, the Cape Argus reported on Thursday.

Nehemiah Ballem told the judge "Jou ma se p..s, fuck you" after being quizzed on why he was several hours late for a case on Friday.

In an interview at his home in Ravensmead on Wednesday, Ballem told the newspaper he did not regret his outburst.

Ballem said his car had broken down in Gordon's Bay on Friday.

When he realised he would not make it to court on time for an appeal he contacted his secretary to ask her to explain his situation to Bozalek.

He asked his secretary to request that the matter be postponed or removed from the roll because he did not know how long it would take for the car to be sorted out.

Ballem said he did not expect to go to court, so he started drinking a pack of Smirnoff Storm in his car while he waited for help to arrive.

Later, his secretary called him to say that Bozalek was prepared to wait for him until 14:30.

By the time he arrived at the court building, he was drunk, he said.

The Cape Bar Council and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) were investigating Ballem’s verbal attack on Bozalek.

Source