Cape Town - UK Fugitive Lee Nigel Tucker will soon learn his fate after an almost five-year legal battle to have him extradited to stand trial for alleged rape charges.
Tucker is wanted for trial in the UK on 50 charges mainly pertaining to the alleged rape and sexual assault of children between 1983 and 1993 in England and Wales.
The matter concerns a referral by the magistrate of Wynberg to the Western Cape High Court for review, in terms of the provisions of s 304(4) of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, of the decision which he made on 10 November 2017, where he held that Tucker was liable to be extradited to the UK.
The basis for the referral was that during follow-up proceedings which took place before him in November 2021 the magistrate had come to the view that there had been a failure of justice in the proceedings in 2017 and that he had erred in holding that Tucker was liable to be extradited.
In response to this, the Director of Public Prosecutions sought to review and set aside the magistrate’s decision to refer the matter to the High Court on the basis that it was irregular and incompetent in law.
Contingent on the outcome of these matters is an application by Tucker that he be released on bail.
“In my view, given the contradictory findings and conclusions which the magistrate arrived at in 2017 and 2021 and his delivery of an inappropriate ‘judgment’ (and the comments and findings which he made therein in relation to the English jury system and the charges which Tucker is facing in the UK), instead of forwarding the matter to the Minister under cover of a report in terms of s 10 (4) of the Extradition Act, as he was supposed to do, it would not be proper to provide the magistrate with another opportunity to do so. In fact, given the views expressed by him in his ‘judgment’, the magistrate has surely disqualified himself from providing a reliable, unbiased and objective report to the Minister.
Given that the application for Tucker’s extradition was made in 2016 and an extradition order was made in 2017, and 5 years have elapsed since then without the matter yet having arrived at the Minister for his decision, I see no purpose in remitting the matter to the magistrate for him to forward it on to the Minister,” Judge Mark Sher found.
Tucker was part of a group of adult men who had allegedly been sexually exploiting vulnerable boys in the UK. They were reported to the police in 1997.
A major investigation into the allegations culminated in the conviction of ten men for serious sexual offences.
Tucker was tried and convicted, in absentia, in the UK.
He absconded on the last day of his trial and fled to South Africa. Despite being on the run, he was able to successfully appeal his conviction, which was overturned on 29 May 2002 by the Court of Appeal. A re-trial of Tucker was ordered and further investigations conducted by the police into his offences resulted in him being charged.
On March 4, 2016, the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court issued a warrant for Tucker’s arrest under section 5(1)(b) of the Extradition Act 67 of 1962. He was subsequently arrested on March 18, 2016 in Cape Town, and an official request for his extradition was made on 19 April 2016.
Sher ordered: “The Registrar shall, with the assistance of the office of the DPP, forward a copy of the complete record of the proceedings in this matter to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, within 15 days from date hereof, for his decision as to the surrender of Mr Lee Nigel Tucker to the UK, in terms of s 11 of the Extradition Act, 67 of 1962.”
Neither the National Prosecuting Authority or lawyers for Tucker responded to requests for comment by deadline.
Cape Times