Two apply for bail after revenge killing

One shot dead, another beaten up in gang-related attack

TWO suspected members of a notorious Port Elizabeth gang applied for bail yesterday following a revenge attack on friends of the man they believed had disarmed a fellow gang member and then kept his new gun.

Damien Kammies, Deilon Makkopa and Kurt Bosman were arrested in November after a house was burnt down, a man kidnapped and assaulted, and his cousin shot dead as they allegedly tried to track down the man responsible for humiliating their friend.

While Kammies, 33, Makkopa, 30, and Bosman, 28, – alleged members of the Spotbouers gang – failed to track down Neville “China” Bruintjies, they left a trail of destruction behind them.

Kammies abandoned his bail application in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court yesterday, after it emerged he had two outstanding attempted murder cases.

Makkopa and Bosman, represented by attorney Ryno Scholtz, proceeded with their applications.

Taking the stand yesterday, Makkopa, of Schauderville, denied any involvement in the offences.

He said he was in a flat, a stone’s throw from his house, when the murder took place. He said he had heard the gunshot from where he stood “wearing only his slip slops”.

It is the state’s case that two men, also believed to be members of the Spotbouers, pointed a firearm at Bruintjies during the early hours of November 19.

He managed to disarm the men of the newly purchased gun, apparently embarrassing them in the process.

Later that day, Kammies, Makkopa, Bosman and another suspect who has yet to be arrested, tried to track down Bruintjies and the missing firearm.

According to the charge sheet, the men then allegedly kidnapped Bruintjies’ friend, Franklin Matthys, from a house in Schauderville in an attempt to find out Bruintjies’ whereabouts.

The state claims Matthys was assaulted and beaten with baseball bats. His cousin, Deon Matthys, was shot dead. Then a house belonging to Bruintjies’s mother was set alight.

The men are charged with murder, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. They said they intended pleading not guilty.

But in a surprise move yesterday, Scholtz presented a statement to the court, with Franklyn Matthys now claiming he wished to withdraw the assault charge.

His family had held a mediation with the accused’s family and had reached a resolution, he said.

The matter was postponed to Monday for further evidence.