Publication: The Star Issued: Date: 2006-08-02 Reporter: Karyn Maughan Reporter:

State Gives Zuma and Thint Hardcore Porn

 

Publication 

The Star
Date 2006-08-02

Reporter

 Karyn Maughan

Web Link

www.thestar.co.za

 

Hardcore pornography was the last thing Jacob Zuma expected from the state.

But among four million documents provided to the former deputy president in preparation for his coming fraud and corruption trial, his lawyers and those for co-accused French arms company Thint say they were "shocked" and "traumatised" to find 15 pornographic images.

Zuma said in papers filed at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday that his lawyers had "not yet fathomed" the relevance of the pornography, which he says was found on a "computer hard drive in a virus riddled format" handed over by the state on May 6.

The Mercury has established *1 that the pornography was not found on any computers belonging to Zuma or Thint, prompting defence lawyers to question its relevance to the case against their clients.

A member of Thint's legal team told The Mercury that the images depicted "the anatomy of women and men copulating". "We had no idea what was on those files when we clicked on them . . . they just popped open all over the screen. Any accused person is entitled to know what documentation the state will use against them and it is in their best interests to examine that evidence . . . but it is obviously an appalling thing to be exposed to," he said.

Zuma's lawyer Michael Hulley declined to describe the images.

Zuma and Thint's lawyers suggest that the pornographic material is more than simply offensive - it also shows that the state has done little to identify documentation directly relevant to the corruption charges against Thint and Zuma.

In an application before the Pietermaritzburg High Court, Zuma and Thint have asked Judge Herbert Msimang to either "permanently stay" their prosecution or to strike the case off the roll.

Speaking to The Mercury yesterday, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Makhosini Nkosi said the state would respond to the pornography claims when it filed a response to the application.

With acknowledgements to Karyn Maughan and The Star.


*1       I have it on the best authority one can get that the offending material was found on one on the computers subject to search and seizure.

The inference that the investigators or their forensic specialists somehow caused this material to mysteriously appear to appear on one of the Accuseds' harddrives is in itself offensive.

All the State did was to mirror the harddrives of the computers that were seized and then at the request of the Accused, provide mirror copies of these harddrives to the Accused.

But there's more......