Alleged wife killer’s bail application stalled
It was back to the cells for alleged wife killer Arnold Terblanche after his latest attempt at bail was put on ice when state advocate Marius Stander was unavailable to present his arguments yesterday.
Terblanche will have to wait until Tuesday for the matter to continue after his defence attorney, Alwyn Griebenow, told the court that Stander was “indisposed”.
No further information was given. Terblanche launched his latest bid for bail in April, claiming that new information had come to light after his previous bail denial.
During the drawn-out court proceedings, which saw Griebenow submit a 60-page affidavit and numerous statements from various people, claims were made that the state had withheld evidence and the investigating officer had misled the court.
According to Griebenow, much evidence was collected by the defence after Terblanche was denied bail in January, including statements by a number of individuals such as Terblanche’s brother, Marius, and his son, Ethan.
Griebenow said investigating officer Colonel Kanna Swanepoel had misled the defence as to who the state witnesses were, and while some of them had indeed been approached by Swanepoel, no statements had been taken from them at the time.
Stander has opposed the release of Terblanche on bail, stating that the evidence was not new but merely a “second bite at the cherry” to fill gaps and elaborate on evidence already heard during Terblanche’s first bail application and his unsuccessful appeal in the high court.
Terblanche has been in custody since his November 17 arrest.
He was denied bail in January after magistrate Kriban Pillay found that he posed a flight risk and may interfere with witnesses.
High court judge Glenn Goosen came to a similar conclusion when he dismissed Terblanche’s application to appeal the decision.
Terblanche and co-accused Reinhardt Leach and Dylan Cullis face charges of conspiracy to commit murder, murder and defeating the ends of justice.
They are accused of the murder of Terblanche’s estranged wife, Vicki, whose body was discovered in a shallow grave on a plot in Greenbushes on October 23.
She had been reported missing by Leach two days earlier.
Both Leach and Cullis have abandoned their bail applications.
It is alleged Terblanche and Leach had conspired to kill Vicki while she and Terblanche were embroiled in a bitter divorce.
A fourth person involved in the case, Mario de Ridder jr, has turned state witness and gave a statement in which he allegedly pointed out the key role players in Vicki’s murder, including Terblanche.
Terblanche has denied knowing De Ridder. It is alleged Vicki was killed on or about October 18 at her Mill Park home after she was first drugged with Percocet, a Schedule 6 opioid, and then suffocated with a pillow and possibly even strangled.