Discrepancies between a witness's testimony on Thursday and his previous testimony in July arose during the drunken driving trial of Pretoria High Court Judge Nkola Motata in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court.

Metro officer Moatlhodi Daniel Madibo said that since the January 2007 accident involving Motata, he himself had been in an accident that affected his memory.

During cross-examination defence advocate Danie Dorfling said in July Madibo told the court he had not heard any vulgar words at the accident scene.

On Thursday Madibo said he did hear a "little" vulgar words, but did not know who said them.

He also said he both received a call to go to the accident scene, and arrived at the accident scene at 2.50am.

Dorfling said this could not be correct, because it must have taken some amount of time to get from where Madibo was when he received the call to the accident scene.

Madibo also said a breathalyser test was not done on the scene.

Madibo, 46, said he had only been back at work for two months, having spent eight months in hospital after his accident in December.

He said he was back at work as a Johannesburg metro police officer, but was only doing light duties, like issuing parking tickets.

Motata is facing a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, with an alternate charge of driving with an excess of alcohol in his blood or reckless or negligent driving.

He also faces a charge of defeating the ends of justice with an alternate charge of resisting arrest.

Sapa