Twists and turns in Gardee murder
MBOMBELA - The fourth accused in the Hillary Gardee murder case is expected to appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court today, Thursday August 25.
Accused number four, Rassie Hlabirwa Nkuna, was expected to appear in this court on Wednesday August 24, but could not due to technical difficulties.
The matter was postponed to the following day.
After this appearance, Nkuna will join his three co-accused in the Gardee matter, Sipho Mkhatshwa, Philemon Lukhele and Albert Gama, on September 9 in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court.
Nkuna appeared in the Delmas Magistrate’s Court last Monday, August 15, for the murder of 27-year-old Nonkululeko Crystal Nkosi. Two weeks ago, her body was dumped in a farm dam and her Mercedes-Benz was stolen.
He also made a brief appearance in the KaNyamazane Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday August 16 for the alleged murder of a police officer, Marcia Mazibuko, and her sister, Pretty Mazibuko, in KaNyamazane on May 15. This matter was postponed to September 6 for further investigation.
On Monday August 22 Mkhatshwa, Lukhele and Gama made yet another appearance, and their defence team argued for the matter to be struck off the court roll. This is after they had asked the court to grant them a date for the matter to be transferred to the high court, which the state opposed, arguing that it can only transfer the matter once all the accused bail processes had been finalised. The court then ruled in favour of the state, citing that for proper administration, the matter needed to be done and dusted in the lower court before it could be transferred to the high court.
This ruling, however, did not sit well with the defence team, which immediately launched an appeal. Just before the three made their appearance in court on Monday, proceedings had to be delayed after two of the three accused did not show up in court due to breakdown in communication.
A twist in the case came about when a Nigerian national, who was taken in for questioning on Sunday August 14, and eventually charged for defeating the ends of justice, did not appear in court as expected, as the case was not enrolled.
As a result, the National Prosecuting Authority advised the police to obtain a statement from an expert. The suspect was then provisionally released, but the police said as soon as the necessary information has been acquired, he will be subpoenaed to appear again.