Man denied bail for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend

A man arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend had the shock of his life when his bail application was denied by the Court.

The 31-year-old Gcabi Dube from Buka at Ezulwini was arrested and charged with contravening Section 77 (1) (a) of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act 15 of 2018, for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend Nokuthula Maseko. Dube allegedly assaulted Maseko with fists and leg kicks all over her body, thus contravening the said act.

He made his first Court appearance before Magistrate Innocent Motsa at the Mbabane Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday morning. The Crown moved an application to have Dube remanded back to police custody pending the setting of a trial date before Principal Magistrate Fikile Nhlabatsi.

Bail was not opposed to which the suspect made an application.

However, Magistrate Motsa denied Dube’s application and advised him to do so before Principal Magistrate Nhlabatsi.

Dube is set to return to Court on April 12 to set trial for May 8.

In the same Court, a drunk-driving suspect was sentenced to two years in prison with an option to pay a fine of E2 000.

Intoxicated

Phathizwe Siphiwo Vilakati (31) of Mpolonjeni was on Tuesday morning at around 3:10 am arrested after he was found driving whilst intoxicated near Mater Dorolosa School (MDS) in Mbabane.

Vilakati was driving a Volvo sedan and was found to have an alcoholic content amounting to 0.73 mg/l. He was charged with contravening Section 91 (1) as read with Section 122 (2) of the Road Traffic Act 6 of 2007.

During mitigation, Vilakati pleaded for the Court’s leniency and said driving under the influence of alcohol had been a mistake and pleaded that the Court give a provision to pay a fine. He was sentenced to the aforementioned.