Accused to apply for bail
CHURCH MURDERS: MONK AND PRIEST ALLEGEDLY KILLED THREE MONKS
Two back in court this week in case that shocked the world.
An Egyptian monk and a priest charged with the 12 March murders of three Coptic monks are expected to apply for bail this week. Monk Saeed Basonda, 37, and priest Samuel ava Markos, 47, appeared in the Cullinan Magistrate’s Court on Friday, on three counts of murder and one of violating the Immigration Act.
This after the gruesome discovery of the bodies of Father Takla Elsmwaeili Ayoub Attia Mossoud Mouss, Father Marcos Shawkat Nasry Morid Wanas Mina and Father Marcos Mofed Tawfek Isaac Youstos at the Coptic Orthodox Church premises in Cullinan, east of Pretoria, where they all resided.
The duo is accused of using an axe to cut up their victims’ bodies.
On Friday, the pair appeared in the Cullinan Magistrate’s Court where the matter was remanded until Thursday, for bail information, the National Prosecuting Authority said in a statement.
Basonda and Ava Markos stand accused of stabbing to death the trio, whose lifeless bodies were found in pools of blood in an incident that horrified the world.
The church said in a statement “three monks were subjected to a criminal attack in our Coptic monastery of Saint Mark the Apostle and Saint Samuel the Confessor in Johannesburg”.
The statement at the time announced that the Egyptian ambassador went to the Coptic monastery to follow up the situation. Police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said the fourth victim, who survived, alleged he was hit by an iron rod on his hand before fleeing and hiding in one of the rooms.
She said no valuable items were taken and the motive of the killing was unknown.