The wrong side of the law, and other brief reports

* Mthuthuzeli Mpintsho was rushed to hospital yesterday after he attempted to slit his throat in the dock of the Umtata High Court. He had just been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his female partner in January. – SABC News * The International Association of Women Judges, spearheaded in KwaZulu-Natal by two of its vice-presidents, Judge Leona Theron and Senior Civil Magistrate Soma Naidoo, will publicly take a stand against both women and child abuse. Various activities highlighting the plight of abused women and children will take place in courts countrywide on December 1. – The Mercury * The mother of a Dutch teenager kidnapped in Sunset Beach in 2003 has begun testifying in the Cape High Court trial of Germans Michael Brandl and Marcus Muhlthaler, who are accused of snatching her son. They allegedly demanded a R5m ransom. – Cape Times * Prosecutors are to decide whether to charge Sam Dodgen, one-time spokesperson and personal assistant to two former Western Cape MECs and now head of a cruise operation, in connection with suspected fraud involving more than R1m. Hundreds of people have paid in advance for sea cruises that were to have begun in October 2003, but which never took place. – Cape Times * A warrant of arrest was issued for former Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions Mzwandile Ntsaluba in the East London Magistrates\' Court. Ntsaluba, after two previous convictions, faces a further two amalgamated charges of driving under the influence of alcohol. He resigned as DPP last year after the third arrest. – Daily Dispatch * A handful of women have handed over a memorandum to the Kgapane Magistrates\' Court in Limpopo opposing the granting of bail to Isaac Mabeba who allegedly hanged his three children with an electric cord. The protest is part of a campaign against women and child abuse. – SABC News