Residents fill Joburg court
Westbury residents filled the corridors of the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday for the bail application of the two police officers and seven other suspects arrested in connection with the murder of 21-year-old Bradley Sauls from Westbury.
Sophiatown Community Policing Forum chairperson Tilly Micheals said the Westbury community opposed bail being granted to the nine linked to Sauls’ murder. He was shot dead in July while walking in Westbury.
The chairperson said the high turnout in court yesterday was evidence of “how the community feels, particularly about the two policemen who were supposed to be protecting us but were working with people who are working against the community.
“The community doesn’t want them to get bail. When the trial happens, the community will be there too, until they are locked up and rot in jail, like the people they were supposed to arrest so our community would be safe.
“We need to start living differently and leaving our children a different legacy. That is the important thing that needs to be done here. We are not doing this for ourselves, we are doing this for the safety of our children.”
The two police officers and their seven co-accused face charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, corruption, possession of illegal firearms and ammunition and kidnapping.
The bail application was postponed in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday to October 23. The two officers from Sophiatown, warrant officer Wynand Steyn and sergeant Tom Keet, allegedly concealed crucial evidence after arriving first on the scene of Sauls’ murder.
Gauteng National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said the postponement was to allow the attorneys for accused two, three, six and seven to be present s the court could not proceed in their absence yesterday.
“The lawyer for accused number two and three indicated to a colleague he will be withdrawing, but that needs to be done properly as per the procedures of the court. He must come to court and withdraw officially from the case,” he said.
The NPA expected a date to be set for the bail applications next week, Mjonondwane added.
He said all three accused in the Heather Peterson case have abandoned their bail application. The 45-year-old mother was killed in the crossfire of an alleged gang-related shooting metres from her Westbury home last month.
She became the face of the ongoing struggle between gun-toting gangs and residents, sparking the recent spate of protests in Westbury and other coloured communites around Johannesburg. That case is due back in court next Tuesday.