Asked by the Customer on 26-09-2016 18:41:04
Question posted in the General Law category relating to Mpumalanga
Hi there, I am a the victim of extortion. I approached a lawyer to draw up a cease and desist letter on my behalf, which the accused received (I'm in possession of emails in which the accused forwarded scanned copies of my lawyer’s letter to the third parties in the extortion). Even in this forwarded email, amongst other places, the accused continued his extortion against me. Because I’ve had real harm, both in my professional life and through loss of property, I wish to lay criminal charges. However, my lawyer is advising me that I need legal representation before I can do this, at rather exorbitant fees (at least for my budget). This is rather confusing - I thought crime victims are represented by public prosecutors, and that I would not have to pay lawyer fees? If I’m wrong on this, is there a time line that I need to consider within which I have to lay the criminal complaint? Lastly, the accused lives in a different province from me; do I need to lay the criminal complaint in his province?
Message from the Attorney
Posted by Att. Patrick on 26-09-2016 20:28:39
Hi there and thank you for your question,
You don't need the services of an attorney to assist you in laying criminal charges against somebody else - but it can assist you in many ways. e.g. the attorney can assist in taking a statement from you and submitting it to the SAPS; and can follow up with the Investigating Officer (IO) on a weekly basis to see what is happening with the investigations; and speaking to the public prosecutor about the status of the case.
You would lay the complaint against the accused at your nearest police station. They might then "transfer" the docket to the police station in the area in which the accused lives. The criminal trial would be heard at the criminal court also in the area in which the accused lives.
If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.
Att. Patrick
Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.
If you would like to view the entire answer, you will need to either login or register a FREE account.
Disclaimer
DISCLAIMER: Advice or answers from Lawyers on South African Legal Advice are not substitutes for the proper advice of an Lawyer. South African Legal Advice is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Lawyer who assists with your question is not your Lawyer, and the response above is not to be considered to be legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains. The responses above are from individual Lawyers, not South African Legal Advice. The site and services are provided “as is”. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service.