Magistrate Grant Engel sided with prosecutor Leon Snyman, who argued that the sample was reliable after advocate Dirk Uijs, for Yengeni, questioned the calibration of the machine used and the sodium fluoride found in the vial.

Sodium fluoride is used to preserve the blood.

Reference was made to the 2012 drunk driving case of Jamie Ross, in which it was reportedly found in the Western Cape High Court that a certificate of the blood test result was not sufficient proof of the machine’s calibration and accuracy.

However, Engel, after listening to both parties, denied Uijs’s argument for Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act which states that once the prosecution has closed its case, and that it is believed that there is no evidence that the accused committed the crime, he would be found not guilty.

Yengeni was arrested in Green Point in August 2013 after officials allegedly noticed that he did not appear to have proper control of his Maserati.

According to the blood test results, he had a blood alcohol level of 0.25%, five times the legal limit of 0.05%.

The case was postponed to May 20.

- News24.com