Claudius Chetty is charged with the murder Rashmika Janthielayal. He was expected to apply for bail, but abandoned the application.
|||Durban - Two shattered families sat on opposite ends of the public gallery at the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court where the teenager accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death at a Further Education and Training college appeared briefly on Wednesday.
Claudius Chetty, 18, is charged with the murder of 17-year-old Rashmika Janthielayal. He was expected to apply for bail on Wednesday.
However, his attorney, Anand Pillay, confirmed to the court that they were abandoning the bail application due to certain developments.
Pillay said the defence was only informed on Wednesday morning that the grounds of the State’s opposition to bail was that the murder was premeditated.
“There are certain aspects of the investigation, which are pertinent to this bail application, still outstanding. We will therefore abandon the application now and bring it at a later, appropriate date, once all investigations have been finalised,” Pillay said.
The matter was adjourned provisionally to July 10.
Chetty appeared calm as he stood in the dock waiting to be taken back into custody. His family left the court immediately after the adjournment, while Rashmika’s family stood outside, comforting each other.
Rashmika, who was studying hairdressing at Umgungundlovu FET Northdale campus, was allegedly killed by Chetty, who is believed to have been her boyfriend, after an argument.
Rashmika was stabbed several times in the face, neck and chest on the stairway at the college, and died on the scene on June 3.
Chetty fled the campus after the stabbing, but was arrested by police later that day when he returned to the scene.
Rashmika’s family have denied the two were in a relationship.
Her mother Shireen said that she had warned Chetty on numerous occasions to stay away from Rashmika, and had received threatening phone calls and text messages from him.
She said the family was still struggling to accept what had happened.
“
We just want justice to be done,” she said.
Daily News