SYNDICATE TRIAL Magistrate withdraws from bail application
THE BAIL application of seven of the nine supsects who were arrested earlier this year for their alleged involvement in a criminal syndicate that has been operating countrywide, will only take place next week.
The presiding officer yesterday withdrew himself from any further involvement on the grounds that evidence presented during earlier proceedings may prejudice his ruling in the new bail application.
The accused – Trevor Mohapi, Andrew George, Maria Martins, Jonas Riet, Isak Cupido, Wouter Viljoen, James Chimboyo, Frank Mangaliso and Andre Pillay – returned to court yesterday when their new bail application was due to be heard.
However Magistrate Lance Roach recused himself, saying that it would be challenging to reach a decision based on evidence presented during the new application alone, as he had already listened to a fair amount of testimony during earlier applications.
Prior to Roach recusing himself yesterday, charges against the third accused, Maria Martins, were dropped while the separate bail application of Jonas Riet, who is currently involved in negotiations with the state, was postponed until mid-January.
Apart from Martins, who was released from custody following the original application, her co-accused abandoned their schedule 5 application relating to multiple charges, including kidnapping, fraud, theft, impersonating a police official and extortion.
It is alleged that the syndicate has been active in various parts of South Africa, but in particular in the Northern Cape.
With related trials, where some of the suspects have also been implicated, already underway in Jan Kempdorp and Hopetown, prosecutor Cornelia Deetlefs previously requested that all the cases be combined.
She further indicated that the state was in the process of introducing an additional charge of racketeering while further arrests were also expected.
Andre Pillay was subsequently added as an accused in Kimberley and court adjourned until after lunch yesterday in order for the more than half a dozen charges of fraud and extortion, linked to syndicate activity, to be listed and handed to the accused and their legal representatives.
While Deetlefs was prepared to proceed with the new bail application after lunch, the seven suspects will be spending at least another week behind bars after Roach withdrew from the case.
“We are sitting with the dilemma that Mohapi, George and Cupido have already had an application before this court,” Roach said yesterday afternoon.
He then postponed the matter to next week when it will be heard before a different presiding officer.
“When a matter is heard, it is so that the perception must exist that the court is blind and makes a ruling based exclusively on the facts presented,” Roach added.
“There are additional accused who have not made an application and even though bail was initially abandoned, this new application must be done from scratch.
“Therefore, this court cannot hear this bail application.”
The new application is scheduled for Wednesday, next week.