Four in court for rape, murder

INLSA

DA member Nico Dube protests with his baby alongside an ANC supporter outside the Roodepoort Magistrates Court against the bail application of four rape accused. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko

Johannesburg - “It pains me to see the people who took the life of my daughter.”

This was said by Ncebakazi Nokoyo, whose daughter Sinovuyo was allegedly raped and murdered by four men who appeared in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

Speaking outside court, Nokoyo said she had had a hard time dealing with emotions that engulfed her days before the court hearings.

She said matters were made worse by the lack of remorse shown by one of the accused, who had clicked his tongue in annoyance as he walked down to the court’s cells.

It is alleged that Sinovuyo, 14, was suffocated with a plastic bag and strangled with a cable tie after she had been gang-raped.

Her body was found a day later in the veld in Tshepisong on the West Rand.

The four appeared on Wednesday for their formal bail application, which was postponed to Tuesday.

They are aged between 19 and 21, and face charges of kidnapping, rape and murder.

The court heard that accused number one had been out on bail and had pending cases of murder, kidnapping and business robbery.

Accused number three has a pending case for robbery under aggravating circumstances with an unlicensed firearm.

The court gallery was packed with Tshepisong residents, who arrived dressed in political T-shirts.

Some sat on the floor and others stood at the entrance of the courtroom.

Outside the main entrance of the court, hundreds of demonstrators, dressed mainly in ANC and DA T-shirts, were united in their protest over violence and rape against women and children.

They danced, blew vuvuzelas and sang songs protesting at the victimisation of women and children.

Some of them waved placards that read: “Protect our women and children” and “No bail for rapists and murderers”.

The Star