Murder accused granted bail
Mugiyo Ulrich Mabunda (41), the man being accused of shooting his 39-yearold wife, Tebogo, was granted bail in the Mpumalnga High Court last week.
The incident took place in Stonehenge on May 14. It is alleged that he shot her at least nine times, killing her, before turning the gun on himself in an apparent attempt to end his own life,
Mabunda appeared in the Mpumalanga High Court on June 25 to appeal against the refusal to grant bail by the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on June 4. Judgement was reserved and on July 10, he was granted bail of R10 000 on the condition that he reports to Nelspruit Police Station daily between 07:00 and 19:00.
The accused is not to leave the magisterial district of Mbombela, including its subdistricts, without the written permission of the investigating officer or written permission of any police officer so designated by the investigating officer.The accused must attend court on all appearance dates and the accused must not interfere, or have any form of contact, whether physical, electronic or indirect, with any state witnesses. Mabunda must also hand in his passport to the investigating officer.
The court found that as much as it might seem to invalidate the fight against domestic violence, an accused cannot be kept in detention pending his trial as a form of anticipatory punishment.
"The court will therefore ordinarily grant bail to an accused unless this is likely to prejudice the end of justice," Justice AJ Greyling Coertzen said in his judgement.
"It is often the case that when decisions about bail are made, the public inflates their abhorrence of the alleged criminal act or their skepticism about whether the accused will eventually be found guilty of the crime, on the one hand, with the question of whether it is in the interest of justice to grant bail on the other hand. The public then insists bail should be denied, but doing this founded on public outcry would be in conflict with our constitution and the laws enacted in term thereof.
"The appellant alleges that he never threatened anyone and denies having a violent disposition, whereas the state's evidence establishes that the stepson confirmed two previous incidences of assault on Tebogo, as well as a threat to kill the stepson. This does not establish a likelihood that the appellant will harm him. If anything should happen to him, Mabunda will be the primary suspect. This also applies for the state witnesses, he said.
The strength of the state's case was again mentioned and the backlog, worsened by Covid-19, in the criminal court, especially in the High Court of Mpumalanga, was also reiterated. Mabunda will be back in court on August 3.