The trial against six members of an alleged dog fighting syndicate is set to resume in the Knysna Regional Court on Wednesday, March 25 about four years after they were arrested during a police raid outside Plettenberg Bay.
The case had been riddled with postponements including due to technical issues involving recordings that had largely been inaudible.
The accused - Donald Wall of Victoria Park in Port Elizabeth, Rudi Wall of Queenstown, Peter Wall also of Queenstown, Owen Butler of East London, Yorick Grobbelaar of East London and Anton van Blerk also of East London - were part of a group of 10 men arrested during the bust on a property in Ladywood on the outskirts of the coastal holiday town in May 2011.
Throughout the trial witnesses testified that during the bust they had found two dogs fighting in a massive blood-splattered wooden cage in the lounge of the home on the property. Police also found dog fighting paraphernalia as well as five other dogs chained on the property. The accused were allegedly standing around the cage cheering as two pitbulls fought.
Last year the accused, before taking the witness stand, brought an application to have the charges against them dismissed, but this was turned down.
The accused have pleaded not guilty on the charges against them and are adamant that they had been unaware that dog fighting would take place at the property and that they had been there merely as guests.
After two of the accused, Rudi and Donald Wall, testified in October, the case was postponed until March 25 this year.
In May 2013 three of the 10 men arrested that day - Johannes Joubert of Johannesburg, Ferdinand Endeman of Somerset West and Anthony Blake of Plettenberg Bay - pleaded guilty and were each handed a R15 000 fine or an 18 months prison sentence of which R1 000 or 12 months were suspended for three years.
In July the same year Bill Marais, another Plett resident whose property was used for the fights, was sentenced to 18 months correctional supervision under house arrest and was also handed a R20 000 fine, half of which was suspended for four years. He also has to complete 288 hours of community service at the SPCA.
Two of the accused - Van Blerk and Butler - were also convicted and sentenced in East London on similar charges in February this year.They were among 12 people arrested during October 2008 for being involved in an organised dog fighting event on a Glendene smallholding near East London.
Yolande Stander: Garden Route Media
