The East London District Court yesterday fined a Gonubie man who called his neighbour a “k****r” during a heated scuffle last year R5 000 or 50 days imprisonment. The sentence was wholly suspended for three years.
Jacques Cariesel, 38, and Dennis de Lange, 46, were on trial for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, pointing a firearm, trespassing and crimen injuria.
Cariesel was found guilty of crimen injuria only and sentenced on the spot, while De Lange was acquitted on all charges.
It was the state’s case that at about 10pm on December 2, Wilson Street resident Pumelele Dyasi opened his gate to enter his property when two of his dogs came running out to bark at Cariesel’s dogs.
Dyasi told the court after alighting from his car he summoned his dogs back into the property before closing the gate.
He said moments later he heard a voice saying, “the k****r dogs live here”. This was followed by a loud bang on his gate, and when he went to investigate he noticed Cariesel and De Lange entering his property.
“ was armed with a firearm. He said he was going to shoot and kill my dogs and me.
“He called me a k****r who behaved like President Jacob Zuma.”
He said De Lange spat in his face and he had responded by punching him. A fight broke out. He said the men punched him until he fell to the ground, and then they kicked him.
Cariesel and De Lange gave a different version to the court.
They said they were having a braai when Dyasi’s dogs came barking at the fence.
They had taken some of the meat they were eating and used it to lure Dyasi’s dogs back to his property.
Cariesel said he could not remember if he had used the word “k****r” to describe Dyasi.
De Lange said he had fought back after being punched in the face by Dyasi.
Magistrate Leon Kemp accepted De Lange’s version, calling it a “lawful private defence”.
Kemp said the spitting could have been caused by the fact that De Lange had been drinking earlier and that the saliva that Dyasi felt could have been caused by De Lange shouting at him at close range during the heated argument.
He said for Cariesel to have called Dyasi a “k****r” was “unfortunate”.
“It is unfortunate that we live in a time where racial slurs and insults are used on a daily basis.
“The offence was not planned and it was precipitated by the dogs barking but it is still a serious offence. The use of the word evokes memories of suppression in South Africa.
“Instances like this are a painful reminder of the past,” Kemp said. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
Gonubie man fined for K-word outburst
Jacques Cariesel, 38, and Dennis de Lange, 46, were on trial for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, pointing a firearm, trespassing and crimen injuria.
Cariesel was found guilty of crimen injuria only and sentenced on the spot, while De Lange was acquitted on all charges.
It was the state’s case that at about 10pm on December 2, Wilson Street resident Pumelele Dyasi opened his gate to enter his property when two of his dogs came running out to bark at Cariesel’s dogs.
Dyasi told the court after alighting from his car he summoned his dogs back into the property before closing the gate.
He said moments later he heard a voice saying, “the k****r dogs live here”. This was followed by a loud bang on his gate, and when he went to investigate he noticed Cariesel and De Lange entering his property.
“ was armed with a firearm. He said he was going to shoot and kill my dogs and me.
“He called me a k****r who behaved like President Jacob Zuma.”
He said De Lange spat in his face and he had responded by punching him. A fight broke out. He said the men punched him until he fell to the ground, and then they kicked him.
Cariesel and De Lange gave a different version to the court.
They said they were having a braai when Dyasi’s dogs came barking at the fence.
They had taken some of the meat they were eating and used it to lure Dyasi’s dogs back to his property.
Cariesel said he could not remember if he had used the word “k****r” to describe Dyasi.
De Lange said he had fought back after being punched in the face by Dyasi.
Magistrate Leon Kemp accepted De Lange’s version, calling it a “lawful private defence”.
Kemp said the spitting could have been caused by the fact that De Lange had been drinking earlier and that the saliva that Dyasi felt could have been caused by De Lange shouting at him at close range during the heated argument.
He said for Cariesel to have called Dyasi a “k****r” was “unfortunate”.
“It is unfortunate that we live in a time where racial slurs and insults are used on a daily basis.
“The offence was not planned and it was precipitated by the dogs barking but it is still a serious offence. The use of the word evokes memories of suppression in South Africa.
“Instances like this are a painful reminder of the past,” Kemp said. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
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