Judgment opens restorative justice debate expert
As reported previously in the judgments online section of Legalbrief Today, a Port Elizabeth magistrates order that a woman with 203 previous convictions of fraud and one of theft be publicly shamed with a placard around her neck proclaiming her guilt and apologising to her victims, has been set aside by the Grahamstown High Court as unconstitutional.
In an unusual move, two senior judges requested that this condition of the suspended sentence imposed on Antoinette Saayman (45), of Port Elizabeth, be argued before them on review, says a Mail & Guardian Online report. Judges Jeremy Pickering and Jean Nepgen found that the public humiliation of the offender violated her Constitutional rights to inherent dignity and to have that right respected and protected. Their decision is binding on all courts in the Eastern Cape, and a legal source said it would be persuasive in other jurisdictions and would open the debate on the principles of restorative justice. Saayman was convicted last year on six counts of fraud. As part of her sentence, she was ordered to stand in the foyer of the city\'s Commercial Crimes Court for 15 minutes with a placard around her neck proclaiming her guilt and asking for forgiveness from her victims. Full Mail & Guardian Online report Judgment (PDF file)