FROM: THE REGISTRAR

Please note that the media summary is intended for the benefit of the media and does not form part of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court of Appeal today upheld an appeal by the National Director of Private Prosecutions (NDPP) against a refusal by the Cape High Court to find that the residential property owned by the respondent was instrumental in the commission of certain drug offences. The NDPP had first launched an application for a preservation of property order in terms of the provisions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1988 – alleging that the respondent’s property was an instrumentality of the offence of dealing in drugs (in that drugs such as mandrax, dagga, cocaine and ecstacy were sold there). After to obtaining a preservation of property order the NDPP unsuccessfully applied for an order declaring the property forfeit to the state. The High Court held at the first stage that the property was not instrumental in the commission of the offence and dismissed the application. The SCA reversed this finding.

n appeal the SCA, after considering all relevant factors, upheld the appeal and found that property was not merely incidental to but was also substantially instrumental in the commission of the offence . The SCA, however, but could not determine, at this stage, whether the property should be forfeited to the state. Having had regard to the reverse onus resting on the respondent and the fact that the High Court had not made a determination on the question whether the respondent was an innocent owner, the SCA made an order remitting the matter to the High Court.