Khoza v The State

The appellants were charged with multiple offences arising from two cash-in-transit robberies committed in November 2002: one at Mooinooi near Brits and another near Phokeng, Rustenburg. Armed attackers used machine guns, rammed armoured vehicles, killed one Fidelity Cash Management Services employee, and stole large sums of money. Following the Phokeng robbery, the appellants were arrested at Luka village within hours, where police recovered firearms, ammunition, stolen money and vehicles. The appellants pleaded not guilty and raised alibi defences, alleging that the police had conspired to frame them by planting money and firearms and releasing the real perpetrators. The trial court acquitted them on the Mooinooi charges but convicted them in respect of the Phokeng robbery, unlawful possession of machine guns and ammunition, and related offences, imposing lengthy terms of imprisonment. They appealed against conviction and sentence and applied for special entries under section 317 of the Criminal Procedure Act, alleging irregularities and judicial bias.

The appeal against the convictions and sentences was dismissed. The application relating to special entries failed. The appellants’ legal representatives were disallowed from recovering certain appeal-related costs, including excessive heads of argument and associated applications.

The case reaffirms principles governing fair trial rights, judicial management of criminal proceedings, and the high threshold required to establish judicial bias or irregularity warranting interference on appeal. It underscores that active case management by a trial judge does not in itself infringe the right to a fair trial and clarifies the proper use and limits of special entries under section 317 of the Criminal Procedure Act.