Cellphone evidence still outstanding
WITH outstanding cellphone mapping evidence, the docket in the murder of Malvern pensioner Ken Price, 74, will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a decision.
Julio Nobrega, 32, who was Price’s neighbour, Nathan Padayachee, 23, Nobrega’s employee, and Nikiel Pillay, 24, also Nobrega’s employee, who are charged with the pensioner’s alleged murder and defeating the ends of justice, appeared in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Price was reported missing by his family last year in December, and police investigations led to the recovery of his decomposing body in Richards Bay in May.
In court the defence for two of the men, JP Botha, and the counsel for the other, P Naicker, highlighted that on the previous occasion the case had been adjourned for a decision from the
director of public prosecutions (DPP), before magistrate Wendalynn Robinson adjourned the matter.
“The DPP can’t make a decision without the cellphone information,” said Botha, adding that the matter was essentially being adjourned for further investigation.
“The goalposts are being shifted as far as investigations are concerned. The problem seems to be against investigations which are really dragging on,” said Botha.
This was while Naicker had been
opposed to the State’s application for an adjournment. In allowing the matter to be adjourned, Robinson said that it was the final remand for a decision from the DPP.
She explained that this decision would be on transfer to the high or regional court, adding that should it be transferred to the high court she wanted an indictment to be signed on January 16, when the men appeared again in court.
The three men were in June granted bail of R5 000 each; they also face a charge of possession of suspected stolen property in which they appear alongside Metale Pillay.
This charge is in relation to items belonging to the 74-year-old man, who was a motorbike enthusiast.
Metale Pillay had been granted and paid R2 000 bail in this matter on May 20, while Nobrega and the other two were released on a warning for this alleged crime.
The State alleges that the four are guilty of the crime of contravening the provisions of Section 36 of the General Law Amendment Act 62 of 1955, possession of stolen property.
It is alleged that on or about December 2021, at or near Malvern, the accused were found in the unlawful possession of goods, namely “3 x 500cc motorbikes, 1 x bicycle, 1 x DVD player and 1 x angle grinder”.
Previously when the three men charged with the murder were applying for bail, the court heard from the investigating officer, Sergeant G Pharella, that Price’s body was recovered following a pointing out in Empangeni by Padayachee of the area where the body had been dumped.