A public petition handed to the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate's Court on Monday alleges that tokoloshes (evil spirits) are being used to steal court dockets.
The petition alleged that murder accused Mduduzi Manqele, a wealthy traditional healer, was “well-known for keeping evil creatures which collect dockets from court”.
“We fear, once released, his evil creatures will tamper with the investigations,” the petition continued.
A crowd of of people, who had travelled about 45km to the court, protested loudly outside.
Manqele, 48, and co-accused Roger Thusi, 30, face charges of murdering Loyisa Jokweni, 18, whose head was found in a freezer in the home of Thusi's girlfriend in Pietermaritzburg.
A source in the community said Thusi led the police to Manqele after allegedly being told by him to behead Jokweni and put the head in a freezer “to get rich”.
Magistrate Bessie du Toit granted Manqele bail after his advocate Martin Krog submitted that there was no evidence against him.
Krog said the allegations against Manqele in the petition were baseless.
Du Toit refused Thusi's application for bail.
After the discovery of the head in the freezer, angry people from the area where Manqele practised set fire to his house and tuckshop.
They also burned the house where Thusi allegedly kept the head, with a frozen snake coiled around it.
The case was adjourned to March 30. - Sapa