The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Adv Michael Masutha has welcomed the judgment by the Gauteng Division of the High Court which dismissed an application by Mr Janus Walus to be placed on parole pending finalisation of the petition by the Minister to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The court had dismissed the Minister’s application for leave to appeal against its order of 10 March 2016 wherein the Court had ordered placement of Mr Walus on parole within 14 days. The Minister filed for petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal against the refusal by the Court.
When a party has applied for leave to appeal or process an appeal against a court order, the order is automatically suspended pending finalisation of such an appeal unless there are inter alia exceptional circumstances that would persuade the Court to lift the suspension and direct that the order be executed while the appeal process is underway. In this instance the Court was not convinced that there are exceptional circumstances that warrant lifting of the suspension pending the finalisation of the appeal by Minister.
This means that Mr Walus will remain in custody until the petition or the subsequent appeal is finalised.
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