A murder trial already marked by delay was brought to an abrupt halt once again in the Paarl Regional Court on 17 April, after the non-appearance of a court-appointed Arabic interpreter stalled proceedings against alleged wife killer Ahmed Darwish (in his 40s) from Wellington.

The court was set to hear testimony from several of Heilay’s family members, along with the investigating officer, when the matter had to be postponed to 28 May due to the interpreter’s absence.

The state is expected to call a total of seven witnesses.

Regional magistrate Fezile Tonisi has previously warned that continued delays could result in the matter being struck from the court roll; a development that could have seen Darwish released from custody.

According to information obtained by the newspaper, the Cape Town-based interpreter had been collected by a driver on Friday but was mistakenly taken to the Hopefield Magistrates’ Court instead of the Paarl Regional Court, preventing their timely arrival.

Paarl Post was present at court and submitted an application to photograph the accused.

Ahmed was arrested in Wellington on 11 February 2021 and charged with the brutal murder of his wife, Heilay Darwish (35), by slitting her throat with a blunt object.

The murder took place in the married couple’s home in Lillian Street, Wellington. Heilay, who had given birth to the couple’s son in November 2020, was on maternity leave at the time she was murdered.

Paarl Post previously reported that Ahmed spoke a specific Arabic dialect that proved difficult to find a translator for.

READ: Interpreter no-show forces further delay in alleged wife-killer’s trial

The state prosecuter, William Da Grass, told the court during a hearing in November last year that Heilay’s family had indicated they had spoken to Ahmed in English on numerous occasions and that he could even speak “basic Afrikaans”.

According to him the investigative officer also indicated to the state that the accused could understand English.”The language issue is being exploited by the accused,” Da Grass said.

Ahmed’s legal representative, Robyn Diedericks of Legal Aid South Africa, told the court during the same appearance that while it was true the accused could speak English he nonetheless required a translator to interpret complex terms and phrases into Arabic, which is his mother tongue as he is originally from Egypt.

The defence further argued that the court had previously indicated that translation services would not be difficult to secure and therefore insisted the proceedings could not continue without an interpreter present.

In response the state noted that an interpreter had been arranged each time one was requested, but that the translator had repeatedly failed to appear.

Da Grass said it understood that the court should “respect the rights of the accused, but the family [of the deceased] is re-traumatised when they attend court proceedings and nothing happens”.