Gerrie Nel: Tenacious cross-ex

Gerrie Nel: Tenacious cross-examiner with a dark sense of humour

Now that state prosecutor Gerrie Nel has the chance to cross-examine Oscar Pistorius, a much tougher side to the previously underestimated advocate has emerged. Meet the man tasked with tearing holes in the Paralympian’s testimony.

Gerrie Nel: Tenacious cross-ex

Gerrie NelOscar Pistorius’s attorney Barry Roux quickly won a reputation as a piranha for his ruthless style of cross examination from the start of the star athlete’s murder trial. But until the state closed its case, prosecutor Gerrie Nel came across comparatively mild-mannered. Now that Nel has the chance to cross-examine Pistorius, a much tougher side to the advocate has emerged.

Now the world is seeing Gerrie Nel in a very different light — but it’s not likely that his reputation nor the opinion of others matters to the veteran prosecutor. Former National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga told the South African Press Association recently that Nel was incredibly modest about his accomplishments, concentrating instead on getting the right result always. “He is one prosecutor whose prosecutorial expertise, conviction and integrity is beyond reproach. I’ve known him to be a very dedicated prosecutor and a very resourceful prosecutor.”

Mannie Witz, an advocate with the Bridge Group at the Johannesburg Bar, has known Nel for over 30 years and says of him, “He is a very hardworking guy, who takes everything very seriously. He is beyond reproach, and a formidable opponent who goes the whole way, and refuses to give up. He is a good prosecutor, a good cross examiner, you have to be on your toes all the time.”

Nel is unfazed by the fame, or infamy, of the accused. His career is littered with convictions in the biggest cases of the day; he was on the prosecution team that sent Clive Derby Lewis and Janusz Waluz to prison for the assassination of Chris Hani; he prosecuted Hazel Kidson for the murder of her husband; and was the founding head of the Gauteng division of the Scorpions until the elite police unit was disbanded.

He also, despite intimidation and meddling, convicted former police chief and Interpol head, Jackie Selebi, of corruption in 2010. He proved that the top cop had a corrupt relationship with drug dealer, Glenn Agliotti. After the trial the suspected organised crime figure said of Nel, “I don’t particularly like Mr Nel and I say that with respect. I… don’t think many people that I know like Mr Nel, and I say that with respect.”

By the time of Selebi’s conviction, Agliotti must have had enough of Nel. He was the lead prosecutor in the trial in which Agliotti and several of his underworld cronies were charged with the murder of mining magnate, Brett Kebble. In that case he convinced Agliotti to turn on his fellow defendants and testify for the State.

He has also earned the respect of prosecutors worldwide. After the Selebi trial he received an award from the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP), a non-governmental and non-political organisation established to fight the growth of transnational crime. The citation applauded his pursuit of justice in society.

The IAP was full of praise for Nel; “It bears mentioning that the IAP is proud to have recognised the exceptional qualities of integrity, independence and perseverance that Advocate Nel has displayed in the past,” it said.

Nel is widely regarded as a good prosecutor and a committed civil servant; not to be mistaken with the kind that sends you from pillar to post as he shuffles papers and plays with his rubber stamps. The man who turns up at court two hours before the day begins is known to be a methodical, well-prepared prosecutor. Attorneys who have come up against him describe him as a skilful performer in the art of prosecution.

He takes his responsibility as a victims’ advocate seriously. A glimpse of his tenacity, and his dark sense of humour, came on the second day of Pistorius’s bail hearing in February last year. After bungling former detective, Hilton Botha, left the witness box after laying out a litany of mistakes in the gathering of evidence, Nel’s head dropped. As Botha left Nel muttered to one of his junior prosecutors, “There goes our case walking out the door.”

Nel calm demeanour while questioning state witnesses was nowhere to be seen when Pistorius took the stand on Monday. Warming to his task he badgered Pistorius, asking him to repeat his story, questioning his assertion that he wanted to protect Reeva Steenkamp, but not bothering to check if she was safe before firing at a closed door. He asked an exasperated Pistorius to explain how he could have retrieved the 9-millimeter pistol, used in the shooting, from under Steenkamp’s side of the bed without noticing she was gone.

Source: www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com