Families whose cases were heard in front of a Mitchells Plain magistrate say they want her to be removed as she allegedly favours criminals.
Last week, Mary Jwacu found another accused not guilty of the murder of Chad Basson.
The case had been coming on since 2018, when Chad was gunned down while using himself as a human shield to protect a group of friends.
The Lentegeur teen, who was 19 at the time, was posthumously awarded the Presidential Order of Mendi in Silver for bravery while his parents, Cornelius and Dawn, were acknowledged for their efforts to have the accused arrested.
However, things haven’t been smooth sailing for the parents who sat through over 50 court appearances since the accused was arrested.
In 2019, the Parliamentary Monitoring Group also heard a petition from Cornelius about the slow pace of the case.
A disappointed Cornelius said he had mentally prepared himself for the ‘not guilty’ verdict “because of Jwacu’s reputation”.
The father has since been peacefully demonstrating in front of Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court hoping to shine a light on his complaint.
“We are a couple of grieving families that cannot find closure due to the fact that we continuously have to face the perpetrators that maimed our loved ones,” he explained.
“This particular magistrate showed a consistent pattern of exonerating the accused in criminal cases due to some reasons of technicality.”
Cornelius challenged the Justice Department and the National Prosecuting Authority to investigate Jwacu.
“Research her completed cases and I am sure you will find a very low percentage of guilty verdicts where the accused were set free.”
Another case whose verdict rocked the community of Mitchells Plain was that of Shakoor Roberts.
Roberts was accused of the 2015 murder of his mother, Gafsa.
His trial had gone on for six years until he was eventually found not guilty – by Jwacu.
Court Watch member Linda Jones has pledged her support to the families, calling on Jwacu to step down.
Jones also slammed the magistrate for rejecting an application of State prosecutor Darren Johnson last week, when he asked for a postponement in the Basson matter, after having received new information just hours before.
“We don’t want this magistrate in our court. She is doing too much damage to our people, physiologically and physically,” said Jones.
“One can never justify such a brutal verbal attack and degrading of fellow colleagues who have also studied for what they are doing just as she did.
“We are calling on the NPA to assist their members.”
Speaking to the Daily Voice, Jwacu said she was aware of the calls for her to step down, but insisted that the public has legal recourse if they are unhappy with verdicts.
“At the end of the day, there are processes when people are disgruntled,” she added.
“There is a high court that can appeal the ruling. If these people are getting the right guidance they would know [that] their prosecutor can appeal.”
Jwacu confirmed she has seen Cornelius in front of the court. “People have the right to demonstrate, as long as it is not posing a threat.
“This gentleman ran up to my car window and even though I saw it as a threat, I also had to understand that they lost a family member.”
She took a picture of him but said it was to show the Regional Court president, adding: “What I can say is that I have a job to do at the end of the day.”