The four men accused of strangling an elderly couple in their home will remain in jail until their next hearing on January 16.
|||Durban - The four men accused of strangling an elderly couple in their Shongweni home will remain in jail until their next hearing on January 16 after abandoning their bail application in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
Scelo Matabane, Siyabonga Xaba, Philani Shange and Khulekani Mathonsi are accused of murdering John Noble, 72, and his wife Hester, 68, on November 6. Matabane and Shange limped into the court on Wednesday nursing apparent injuries.
They are facing two charges of murder, a charge of aggravated robbery and one of housebreaking.
Neighbours found Noble’s body in the garage of his home, where he had been strangled with a piece of wire.
His wife was found in the house strangled with the tubes of her oxygen tank.
The men’s legal aid lawyer, Fundi Ntuli, told magistrate Ishmael Motaung that her clients were abandoning their bail application as the defence had “some issues” it needed to “iron out” before proceeding with the application.
Ntuli appealed to magistrate Motaung for her clients to be sent to Westville Prison and for them to receive medical treatment. They had been held in the cells at Hillcrest police station since their arrest in the Shongweni area last week. She earlier alleged in court that they had been assaulted and feared for their lives if they were held at the police station.
State attorney, Dumesani Dlungwana, asked for the matter to be postponed for further investigation.
Magistrate Motaung ordered the men be held at Westville Prison and receive medical treatment for their injuries.
Ntuli had on Wednesday opposed a media request to the court for press photographers to be allowed into the court, saying her clients “were not pleased to have their pictures taken by the press” during an earlier court appearance. She argued that their right to privacy and dignity had been infringed.
However, Dlungwana argued that the victims’ right to privacy had not been infringed and the media taking photographs would not jeopardise the investigation or the case against them.
Motaung granted the media permission, saying the matter was taking place in a court, which was open to the public whom the media represented, unless it was ruled otherwise.
“In terms of the constitution everybody has the right to privacy but on the other hand the constitution provides for freedom of expression and freedom of the media,” Motaung said.
“The public has a right to know what is happening in the court. The right to privacy of the accused cannot outweigh the right of the public to know what is happening before the court.”
Daily News