Acting judge testifies against man accused of calling her 'fake'

‘THREATS OF VIOLENCE’

- NADIA KHAN [e-mail]

AN ACTING high court judge testified how she felt insulted, embarrassed and fearful after a Durban man allegedly accused her of being "fake", slandered her on social media and made threats to incite violence, after she dismissed two of his applications.

Acting judge Nomusa Khuzwayo was testifying in the trial of Avinash Ramkistan in the Durban Regional Court last Thursday.

Ramkistan, 40, of Glen Ashley, was arrested and charged with several counts of intimidation, crimen injuria, contravention of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Act and contravention of the Cybercrimes Act 19 of 2020, in March last year.

He is alleged to have threatened Khuzwayo, law enforcement officers, magistrates, prosecutors, and Shamila Batohi, the National Director of Public Prosecutions, with “violence”, “death” and “bloodshed” in emails, voice recordings and posts shared on Facebook.

According to the State prosecutor, Vaneshree Moodley, it is alleged that Ramkistan made threats of violence against Khuzwayo in order for his court matter to be reinstated.

In an affidavit addressed to the Bar Council KZN in October 2023, Ramkistan, who is representing himself said: “Should this not be granted within the next 30 days, the applicants will not hesitate to take justice into my own hands anyway it deems fit. This is a recipe for extreme violence that will ensue.

“The applicants guarantee in that instance, that every person involved with the fraud and crime (which include court officials) may face serious harm without any regard to the laws, should they not surrender themselves to police, a peaceful but armed protest will ensue where we take all persons involved by force into our custody or anyone in our way will be dealt with severely.”