Drama in Court as Rapist About to be Sentenced Cuts His Own Neck in Front of Everybody

Forum 7 years ago

Drama in Court as Rapist About to be Sentenced Cuts His Own Neck in Front of Everybody

A r*pist has shocked people in a court recently.

The man cut himself in the neck shortly before he was due to be sentenced in the High Court in Bloemfontein yesterday.

According to Daily Sun SA, about three hours later, Elton Daddy Bell, 32, was back in court, his neck bandaged.

He walked into court with a cheeky: "Here I am again. I’m back."

On his second visit to the court, several heavily-armed correctional services officials accompanied him. The book in which he had apparently hidden the blade he had used, was nowhere to be seen.

Judge Martha Mbhele said the court was not there to be fooled around in. She warned him she would not put up with nonsense.

Sentencing was postponed to Friday. He was previously found guilty of housebreaking with the intent to r*pe, and rape, two counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and a charge of housebreaking with the intent to rob.

The drama started when Bell said he wasn’t satisfied with his Legal Aid lawyer, Similo Kambi. He raised his objections just before the lunch break and Kambi’s mandate was terminated.

Mbhele explained it was too late to have a new lawyer appointed for him.

Bell wouldn’t listen. When Mbhele ordered him to sit down so she could proceed, he refused: "No, I don’t want to sit."

Two prison warders forced him to sit.

Bell said he didn’t want to listen to the sentencing. Mbhele had just begun reading it, when there was a stream of blood. The warders wrestled the blade away him. Bell fell and then sat banging his head against a wall.

An ambulance was called and he was taken to Pelonomi Hospital.