Jubilation erupted at the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court when Fadiel Adams was released from detention after the court ruled on his Schedule 1 bail application on Friday.
Magistrate Wendalyn Robinson said she was satisfied that he is a candidate to be released, and he was granted R10,000 bail. Adams will return to court on August 14.
On Friday, the court heard closing arguments in mitigation and aggravation of his bail application in which Adams’s legal counsel, advocate Yuri Gangai, addressed the court regarding the State’s arguments that their client is a flight risk in that he attempted to evade trial.
During court proceedings, Adams’s “catch me if you can” conduct was placed under the spotlight.
This was as a result of a TikTok video, before his arrest on Tuesday, May 5, by the Political Killings Task Team (PKTT) at the Parliamentary Village, that Adams likened himself to Harrison Ford in ‘The Fugitive’, indicating that the PKTT went to certain addresses, looking for him and could not find him.
The State submitted that Adams made a mockery of the unit, which Adams described as a rogue unit, and this amounts to his defeating and obstructing the administration of justice.
Robinson imposed strict bail conditions on Adams, including that he report to the Mitchells Plain police station two days a week, he is prohibited from any communication with any witnesses, SAPS officers, Durban Metro police officers, as well as any members of the PKTT.
Adams is allowed to reside between two addresses – one at a residence in Mitchells Plain and his residence in the Parliamentary Village.
Before concluding proceedings on Friday afternoon, Robinson “implored Adams to respect the criminal justice system as they have respected him”.
The request was made in light of Adams’s conduct, which led up to his arrest, described as a “cat and mouse game” which showed Adams’s, as the State argued, attempts to evade trial.