PRETORIA high court judge Nkola Motata has filed for leave to appeal his drunken driving conviction and sentence.

PRETORIA high court judge Nkola Motata has filed for leave to appeal his drunken driving conviction and sentence.

The court papers were filed yesterday in the Johannesburg magistrate's court where he was convicted and sentenced.

Motata's lawyer Bantubonke Tokota saidyesterday a date for the hearing had not yet been set.

Magistrate Desmond Nair fined Motata, 62, to a R20000 or 12 months' imprisonment for drunken driving earlier this month.

Motata spent R1million in his unsuccessful attempt to fight allegations that he had driven while drunk.

This was after he crashed his Jaguar into the wall of a residential home in Hurlingham, Johannesburg, while drunk.

The owner of the house he had crashed into, Richard Baird, has lodged a civil case and wants Motata to pay the R10000 he has spent on fixing the wall.