Home

Vicky Momberg’s case postponed to January 2018

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Convicted racist, Vicky Momberg will at least enjoy the festive season after her sentencing proceedings were postponed to next year.

This as the defence is still awaiting a pre-sentencing report from social workers.

Momberg was found guilty of four counts of crimen injuria last month by the Randburg Magistrate’s court north of Johannesburg.

Momberg  was captured on a video in February last year shouting racial slurs at police officers. They were assisting her after she was involved in a smash and grab incident in Northriding in Johannesburg.

Fletcher Reed, who has been following Momberg’s trial, believes Momberg was given a raw deal. Reed recalls a rape case in London where the alleged victim used a racial slur against an Indian gentleman.

“The bottom line is that how it was treated over there. There was no court case for racism or anything. What followed was a psychiatrist who gave evidence and a psychologist who was dealing with her and basically at the end of the day it was determined that under the circumstances any woman in that situation 7 out of 10 literally loses their mind for a period after a traumatic event.”

Momberg used the K-word 48 times in her exchanges with black police officers.

When calling the 10111 call-centre she launched into a tirade about how she refused to be assisted by a “K”.

Momberg could face jail time

Reed believes it was a moment of insanity: “Because it is impossible that anybody in their right mind in SA would walk into a police station and start using the K word with such abandon which again points to the fact that she was obviously out of her mind and she should basically instead of ending up in court and possibly jail time or whatever they are going to do, she should have got counseling immediately and taken to a hospital whether she likes it or not.”

After finding that it amounted to hate speech, the Equality Court ordered Momberg to pay R10 000 in damages to one of the police officers.

She intends appealing that finding. Momberg could face jail time following her conviction in a criminal court.

The Human Rights Commission’s Buang Jones believes this will serve as a necessary deterrent.

“In the event that the court decides that a custodial sentence is appropriate in this matter we hope that she will receive the appropriate support to assist her to come to terms with her conduct. In order to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions and to get the necessary psychological support she may need.”

The sentencing hearing has been postponed until the 26th of January. At that stage the defence indicated that it might be able to finalise its case in mitigation.

 

Author

MOST READ