Triple murder case stalls without state prosecutor
THREE men who have been charged with triple murder will have to wait until October 13 to apply for bail while the State finds a prosecutor from the Director of Public Prosecution’s (DPP) office to deal with the matter.
Ishmael Amardien, Ebrahim Barendse and his brother Yusuf Barendse yesterday appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court charged with three counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder following their arrest on September 8.
Their arrest comes after a breakthrough by Anti-Gang Unit detectives investigating the murder of Ricardo de Jager, Thys Meyer and Adnan Jacobs, who were shot and killed at Victoria Lodge informal settlement on March 31 this year.
The matter had been set down for a bail application, but the State was unable to proceed while a large group of family members – there to support the accused – waited with bated breath in the gallery.
When the State indicated that it was not ready, Amardien’s new lawyer, Asghar Mia, interjected to express his concerns.
“The concern I have is the matter was set down for today for a formal application, the defence is ready and despite what has now been placed on record in respect of the State’s request, it seems that the State is ready.
“By my learned colleague’s own request for a postponement, he has placed before the court that someone is going to be appointed from the DPP, we do not know who this person is but it seems it’s going to be somebody from the Organised Crime Unit.
“There has not been enough time since the last appearance, but the investigating officer has already drafted a bail affidavit, which in essence itself means that the State is ready to proceed based on the bail affidavit by the investigating officer,” Mia said.
He opposed the postponement, saying that the accused had been in custody for four days before their first appearance, and given the amount of time that had already lapsed before the incident and their arrest, coupled with the fact that most of the arguments would be based on documentary evidence, as opposed to oral evidence, there was no reason for the State not to proceed.
He said that if the State was of the view that it needed a specific advocate to deal with the matter based on the seriousness of the allegations, then it should have been done a week ago. The Barendses’ lawyer, Junaid Jumat, agreed with Mia in opposition.
The matter was then postponed to October 13 for a formal bail application. Outside court, the De Jager family said they were still “heartbroken” and that he wasn’t a gang member.