Murder accused remanded

THREE men accused of the murder of criminal lawyer Pete Mihalik were each remanded to different prisons following a brief appearance at the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

They faced a security risk at Pollsmoor prison, according to the State.

Like their first appearance, the men stood in the dock in a heavily-guarded courtroom.

Vuyile Maliti, 35, from Kuilsriver was arrested this week and will face the same four criminal charges as his two co-accused, Sizwe Biyela, 31, and Nkosinathi Khumalo, 26, both from KwaZulu-Natal. They were charged with the premeditated murder of Mihalik, attempted murder, possession of unlicensed firearms and possession of ammunition.

Khumalo indicated that he would appoint his own lawyer, but had not done so at the time of his appearance yesterday.

Maliti appointed Johannesburgbased lawyer Danny Kruger, while Biyela opted for Legal Aid.

The court granted Khumalo’s request to make another attempt to contact his lawyer before their next appearance.

Biyela and Khumalo were arrested shortly after Mihalik was shot and killed while dropping his son at Reddam House School last week.

Mihalik’s son was injured after a bullet lodged in his face.

Biyela was remanded to Malmesbury prison, while Khumalo remains in custody at Allandale prison. Maliti was remanded to Drakenstein prison until their next court appearance on November 15.

The State claimed the murder was premeditated as “the offence was committed by a person, group of persons or syndicate acting in the execution of furtherance of a common purpose”.

Prosecutor Helene Booysen previously said the State might add further charges following further investigation.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said: “It has not yet been mentioned, but one of the (accused) is out on bail in another matter, which happened outside of this province. I think it’s related to a murder charge.”