Johannesburg — Former Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund trustee Jeremy Ractliffe said on Wednesday he was never guilty of possession of uncut diamonds.
“As far as I was concerned I was innocent,” he told reporters after the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg cleared him of the charge.
His wife Gail said she was very relived it was all over.
“My husband is a very good man.”
Ractliffe’s lawyer Nicholas Taitz said the State could not prove that diamonds were involved in the matter.
“The court is [of the] opinion that the State has not proved its case.
Mr Ractliffe, you are not guilty of this charge,” Magistrate Renier Boshoff told him.
Taitz said the State could not get a retrial, but could appeal.
An affidavit by a woman who evaluated the diamonds, Abigail Polohaha, was submitted by the State as evidence. However, Boshoff said the document was only valid if the person involved worked for the state.
Polohaha worked for the SA Diamond Board and therefore would have had to come to court to testify.
“You can’t cross-examine a statement,” Boshoff said.
State witness Lieutenant Colonel Eric Dewy testified Ractliffe handed the stones to police on August 5, 2010 at his home in Johannesburg.
The case was initially delayed due to technical problems on Wednesday.
“Is there anything in this place that is working?” Boshoff said when the transcribing machine stopped working. Eventually a lead was run from another office to the court.
On Monday Boshoff apologised to Ractliffe for the postponement caused by a power outage at the court.
International model Naomi Campbell testified at The Hague war crimes tribunal last year that she thought it was former Liberian president Charles Taylor who had given her a bag of diamonds, which, it was argued were “blood diamonds”. Campbell said she was given the uncut diamonds after a charity fund-raiser in South Africa in 1997, also attended by Taylor.
She said she handed the stones to Ractliffe, who at the time was the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund’s chief executive.
He said at the time he took and kept three small uncut diamonds so Campbell would not get into trouble. Ractliffe handed the stones to the police on the same day that Campbell testified at the war crimes tribunal.
