Protesters call for accused to be denied bail
BRITS: Three men accused of murdering former world heavyweight boxing champion Corrie Sanders appeared in the Magistrate’s Court here yesterday.
Paida Fish, 19, Samuel Mabena, 27, and Chris Moyo, 25, each face one count of murder and three charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances. The three men are Zimbabweans.
The matter was postponed to next Monday for further investigation. The men will remain in custody.
Mabena also appeared in court yesterday in connection with the murder of farmer Mauritz Oberholzer near Brits on September 5. This matter was postponed until Tuesday.
The three were arrested in the Oukasie informal settlement, near Brits, on Thursday after police received a tip-off, police spokesman Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said week.
At the address where the men were arrested, police recovered a cellphone, vehicle key, purse, handbag and cash believed to have been stolen
last during the robbery in which Sanders was shot on September 22.
“Police then went to a second address and a third suspect was arrested,” Ngubane said.
Sanders was at the Thatch Haven Country Lodge, in Brits, when armed robbers entered and began firing shots at random.
Sanders was hit in the hand and stomach and died in the Kalafong Hospital the next day.
Outside court members of the Oukasie SA National Civic Organisation protested.
“Our constitution is failing us because criminals go free,” Michael Mhlongo said.
“They have taken our champion. We are sending our condolences to the Sanders family.”
He said the Home Affairs Department had failed by letting foreigners into the country as they had no legal documents and therefore could not be traced if they committed crimes.
One man held up a poster which read: “They took Lucky Dube now it’s Corrie Sanders. Enough is enough with illegal foreigners. No bail.”
Sanders won the World Boxing Organisation’s heavyweight title in March 2003 by dropping Ukrainian Wladimir Klitsckho in the second round in Hanover, Germany. He retired five years later.