Durban – An application to postpone the bail hearing of a soldier accused of murdering his girlfriend's sister and her friend was refused in the Ntuzuma Magistrate's Court on Friday.
The court had been due to hear the bail application of Thembinkosi American Ngcobo when prosecutor Sipho Mzimakwe made the application to have the bail hearing heard on another day.
Ngcobo, a soldier with the 8 South African Infantry Battalion, is alleged to have fled his post in Upington last month as he was due to go on guard duty and then drove down to Durban in a fit of jealousy where he shot his girlfriend's sister and her friend.
A policeman was also wounded in the January 31 incident. Mzimakwe argued that the courts were clogged up and that the State needed more time to add more charges.
Ngcobo's advocate, Paul Jorgensen, argued that the case at Ngcobo's previous court appearance had been specifically postponed for a bail hearing.
He said that the prosecution could not simply postpone the bail hearing to add more charges.
He submitted that his client was being prejudiced and that a High Court judge was likely to agree if he sought a High Court order.
Magistrate Zenzele Mchunu ordered that a courtroom be found in the Ntuzuma Magistrate's Court so that the bail hearing could proceed later on Friday.