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Court Reporter
THE Supreme Court, sitting as a
constitutional court, on Tuesday postponed indefinitely an application by
Kevin Woods, one of the South Africans serving life imprisonment for
murder and sabotage, to seek medical treatment outside the country for
heart problems.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, Justices Wilson Sandura, Vernanda
Ziyambi, Misheck Cheda and Luke Malaba made the decision after Woods’
lawyer, Julia Wood, said she needed time to study the supplementary heads
of arguments by the State and to get the results of the tests if the
State facilitated them.
For the State, Michael Majuru said he would make arrangements for Woods
to be examined locally, but was opposed to any medical examinations
outside the country.
Chidyausiku said if the two parties were ready they could approach the
registrar of the court so that the case could be heard. But he indicated
there was little time before the first term of the court ends some time
next month.
In his affidavit, Woods, 48, complained of poor treatment at Chikurubi
Maximum Security Prison. He alleged he has been kept in solitary
confinement since his arrest and conviction in 1988. A report released in
January last year by a medical doctor, identified only as Freemantle who
examined Woods, recommended a brain scan and an assessment of Woods’ neck
vessels to confirm
arterial blood supply to his brain.
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