Chapter ii: Other titles by the same author
The Powder of One (Release date 27 March 2015)
A madcap crime comedy - A tale so strange and amusing it has to be read not to be believed.
Simon Sayer’s society wedding to the daughter of Cape Town millionaire, Sander Castle was always going to be spoken of for some time. Abby Castle’s mother, Brigitte Castle spared no expense to her endeavour to ensure it.
However, whenever the wedding came up in conversation, it always evoked the same question. Did they catch the scoundrel who committed that unforgivable misdeed? Nay, let’s call it a crime, for ultimately, this is what it was. Brigitte’s hopes that that people would tire of the story were dashed when a local newspaper revealed that a meeting held between the banqueting manager of the Mount Nelson Hotel and Sander Castle had degenerated into a fierce shouting match. Sander Castle persisted in his refusal to settle an outstanding amount due to the Hotel citing his belief that the perpetrator was a member of the Hotel’s staff. The Banqueting Manager, however, remained defiant in his view that the villain had to be one of the guests. The truth, however, would be revealed shortly after the couple returned from their Honeymoon.
Simon Sayer comes across a blue plastic drum floating in the surf near a deserted section of beach. He dives and shepherds the drum safely to shore. It contains thirty bricks of high quality cocaine, each weighing one kilogram. Simon impulsively decides to keep half. It’s a decision which runs counter to Simon’s law abiding nature. But the knowledge that fifteen kilograms of pure cocaine might be worth anything between four to eight million Rand. Simon hopes to dispose of the cocaine he has taken at a bargain price to one buyer in the hope of netting himself a quick one million or two million Rand.
To ease his conscience, he makes an anonymous call to the police informing them of a suspicious blue drum which he had spotted on the beach through his binoculars. As soon as Simon terminates this call, he realises that the correct choice was to keep some or all of the drugs, or to leave all the drugs where he found them. A call to tip-off the police could only ever be a sensible option if he chose the latter.
It’s too late however. Simon has invited disaster into his life and disaster comes in the form of a series of wacky characters:
Chief Inspector Walter Geiss and Giraffe McCloud of the Special branch suspect that Simon knows more than he is saying about the missing drugs and they keep him under constant surveillance. It’s the last thing anyone wishing to dispose of fifteen kilograms of cocaine in a discrete deal needs.
Sue More is an attorney who was once in partnership with her father, Robert More, Rob for short, in his firm, More & More. Now on her own, Sue offers her services as a defence attorney to Simon. However, her services aren’t all necessarily restricted to those provided by an attorney.
Simon suspects the police might be behind the leaked newspaper report naming him as the person who came across the blue drum containing fifteen kilograms of cocaine.
The report comes to the attention of the Drug Cartel who lost the drum of cocaine. Of particular interest to them is that only fifteen kilograms were in the drum which was reported to the police. Suspecting that Simon Sayer may be able to shed some light on the missing portion of that consignment they send two heavy hitters, Father Spider Biti and Brother Maximilian Payne, the two “clergymen” to Mariner’s Cove to investigate. Their mission is to persuade Simon that the sacrament of confession involves considerably less unpleasantness than the alternative of the last rites.
Completing a cast of larger than life characters are Spencer Fortune, Iona Fortune, Rosie Parker, Dusty Parker, Grace Eyre, Justin Blower, Willy Seymour and the “Godfather” himself Guido de Luca. (But be warned. Don’t call him the Godfather to his face!)
Air Crash SA 252 (December 2012)
It is around a year since a Boeing 777, Flight SA252 crashed into a township near Cape Town which is inhabited exclusively by poor black people. Media reports suggest that the delays in finalising the Air Crash Report are linked in some way to a high level-cover up. But of what? And by whom?
Bella Omondi’s husband was killed in that crash. She requires the assistance of an aviation lawyer to file a loss of support claim for herself & her three children. She’s heard of a man the media call “The Flying Lawyer.” But will he be willing to represent her on a success-fee only basis? And what if he instead accepts the lucrative monthly retainer Air South Africa are reported to be dangling in front of him?
A British Airways 747-400 has entered South African airspace heading to its destination, Cape Town International Airport. South African ATC have however been informed that an incident on board has left it without any pilots who aren’t either critically injured or dead.
To boot, the 747’s auto-land & auto-pilot functions have either been destroyed or deliberately disabled. On board, however, is a cheery fellow who claims to be flying the 747 using knowledge he acquired solely from a computer simulation game. He says the 747 is handling well manually and he believes he will be able to fly to Cape Town International Airport and land the 747 there.
Can the South African Government take the risk of allowing this man to fly over built-up areas and to land at Cape Town less than a year after the SA Flight 252 crash? If they decide to grant the requested clearance to the airliner, they have yet to tell the would-be hero that the weather in Cape Town is rainy, with a low cloud base presently at around fourteen to nineteen hundred feet above sea-level. In addition the North Westerly wind is gusting with a not insignificant cross-wind component. This requires the pilot to be able to handle the aircraft on instruments during the last third or so of the descent in addition to being familiar with flying an ILS approach on instruments and without visibility until close to the actual landing.
In Guards We Trust (June 2013)
A historical adventure set in a fictitious kingdom similar to Monaco. In France the Republicans are threatening to overthrow the French monarchy and to turn France into a Republic. The predicament facing the Montugan king is that if these Republicans come to power in France, it remains unclear whether they will honour the Treaty of Montuga, concluded between the French and Montugan royal monarchs two hundred years earlier?
Creating your own Itunes Radio Station (February 2015)
A free a free guide book about iTunes and iTunes playlists. It includes advice about how to get started. Volume levelling between different tracks, all the way through to using Smart Playlists to create a virtual Radio Station which will play your chosen favourites from various playlists as often or as little as you’d like to hear them. The result should be a “radio station” playlist which ought never to repeat the same playlist anytime throughout your lifetime.
... iii
Chapter iii: Oscar Pistorius: The Verdict (under Pen-name)
As a practising Advocate of the High Court of South Africa (which is what the two lawyers in the Oscar Trial are) there are rules of ethics prohibiting Advocates from commenting on cases in which they are involved or in matters which are yet to be decided.
Such was the author’s concern, however, that misguided, ill-informed and biased views held by many of the public (including some experts) that he foresaw that any verdict other than a conviction for the intentional killing by Oscar Pistorius of Reeva Steenkamp would not only expose the learned Honourable Judge in that trial to totally unfair criticism, but that the South African criminal justice system at the High Court level would also be subjected to unwarranted criticism.
The learned author holds strong views that the South African criminal justice trial system has a major advantages over those in the UK or the USA. It has to do with juries who aren’t required to give reasoned verdicts. A reasoned verdict, which is what South African Judges have to deliver, is the South African system’s major strength at both the trial stage and more so on Appeal.
Towards the end of the Oscar Pistorius Trial, and after the Court adjourned in early August to consider
and to write its written verdict, Siegfried Walther decided to demonstrate how strong the South African system actually is by listening to the legal arguments of both parties at the end of the trial, on television, and by downloading each party’s written heads of argument. He used his legal training as a trial lawyer, and an Arbitrator, to produce his verdict.
His verdict accords with that of the actual verdict, although some of the reasoning on one or two aspects of the case differed.
One could hardly have a better demonstration that the SA Criminal Justice system works particularly well indeed.
At the time of writing, there is a legal argument to be heard on appeal in regard to an aspect of the case. Siegfried Walther unable to comment upon the merits or otherwise of this appeal until the appeal process ends.
FIN
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