Tears, cheers as Eskom murder accused denied bail

THERE were tears‚ loud cheers and embraces as David Ngwenya‚ the man accused of the murder of Eskom employee Thembisile Yende was refused bail by the Springs Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Magistrate Cornell Pretorius found that Ngwenya‚ 44‚ had not proved there were exceptional circumstances that warranted his release on bail.

“The evidence adduced by the applicant [Ngwenya] falls short of satisfying this court that exceptional circumstances exist,” she said.

Pretorius said if Ngwenya was released on bail‚ he would evade trial.

“The state argued that there is a strong case against the applicant. I agree with this submission,” she said.

“The applicant faces the possibility of life imprisonment should he be found guilty.”

Pretorius said the evidence led in court on how Ngwenya was linked to the commission of the offence‚ was corroborated by the results of the postmortem.

Mboneni Yende‚ the family’s spokesman‚ said the outcome of the bail application did not mean victory for them.

“We will fight to the bitter end to ensure that justice prevails,” he said.

Thembisile’s body was found 13 days after she had disappeared.

Postmortem results revealed that she had been strangled and hit on the head.