Kessie Nair's bid to have magistrate recuse herself thrown out
21 November 2018
Kessie Nair's application to have the magistrate who denied him bail recuse herself has been refused.
Nair, a former Durban councillor and convicted fraudster, is charged with multiple counts of crimen injuria and two of incitement of public violence after he posted a video on Facebook calling President Cyril Ramaphosa the k-word.
Nair appeared in the Verulam Magistrate's Court on Wednesday. He wants to reapply for bail under a different magistrate based on "new facts".
Magistrate Ncumisa Gcolotela ruled that Nair's recusal application against her was "unsubstantiated".
Gcolotela said the views held by the court were based on facts that emerged during the bail application.
"If the applicant intends to bring bail on new facts, it must be dealt with by the same magistrate who dealt with the initial bail application. The application is refused," said Gcolotela.
Nair, who seemed agitated after Gcolotela's ruling, stood up and asked whether he would be in a position to address the court on Monday, but his lawyer quickly approached him to take instructions.
Nair to remain in custody
Nair's defence team had asked Gcolotela to recuse herself because she found that Nair "did not appear to be remorseful" in her judgment in his bail application.
His lawyer, Kerusha Ariyan, had said they were not pleased with Gcolotela's statement and ruling on Nair's bail application.
"The magistrate has found him [Nair] guilty before the trial," Ariyan previously said.
Ariyan submitted that the second grounds for their application was that Gcolotela referred the conduct of Chris Gounden, who is Nair's main attorney, to the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society.
Ariyan works with Gounden.
She said Nair felt Gcolotela had found negatively against his lawyer as well.
Gcolotela postponed the matter to November 26 for the new bail application "based on new facts".
Nair will remain in custody until then. He has been incarcerated since his arrest on September 19.
