Policeman Anton Booysen who is defending a R500 000 defamation action arising from his testimony in court that the ex-attorney of former murder suspect Wassim Agha had a love affair with her client, said on Thursday he had given that evidence only after had been given a sworn statement by a witness in support of the allegation.
KwaZulu-Natal attorney Sheena Raghavjee, who denies she had an affair with Agha, said the statements made by Booysen at Agha's bail application in August 2004 were "false and defamatory", and imputed that she was promiscuous or a woman of loose morals, as well as implying that she was unprofessional and acted unethically.
The allegations were said in public in a crowded court and were widely published.
The action is against Booysen, the minister of safety and security and the national police commissioner.
Booysen claims to have had a reasonable belief in the truth of the allegation.
Under cross-examination before Judge Piet Koen in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, Booysen said he and the prosecutor in the case had made a joint decision that he would not testify about the allegation "unless there was something in writing from an independent source".
As he had returned to the witness box after a lunch adjournment to resume his testimony, he had been given a sworn statement by a witness relating to the alleged relationship between Agha and the attorney, he said. "It fitted in with information that was coming from other sources."
Asked if it was not clearly "hugely embarrassing" given that it was said in front of a courtroom packed with the public, press and members of the legal profession, Booysen said this would depend on the individual response. "To some it matters and to others not."
The case is proceeding.