Johannesburg - Convicted murderer Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye is a flight risk and should not be granted bail, the High Court in Johannesburg ruled on Thursday.
“I am convinced that the magistrate exercised his duties accordingly. The application for bail is refused,” Judge Natvarlal Ranchod said.
Maarohanye was asking the court to grant him bail, pending the appeal against his murder conviction and sentence.
He was not in court for the application.
This followed an unsuccessful attempt for bail in the Protea Magistrate's Court in September. The petition to appeal was filed in the high court in March.
Ranchod said the fact that Maarohanye had approached the investigating officer twice during his trial for the release of his passport so he could travel, indicated that he could leave the country if granted bail.
“He requested the passport to travel instead of applying to the court to relax his bail conditions.”
Maarohanye's defence failed to provide exceptional circumstances why he should be granted bail, he said.
Maarohanye's lawyer Rudi Krause said he would take instructions from his client on the way forward.
“I am not disappointed... these things happen. We have not decided what to do yet,” Krause told journalists outside the courtroom.
National Prosecutions Authority spokeswoman Phindi Louw said the State was happy with the outcome and was prepared for the appeal.
Maarohanye and his co-accused Themba Tshabalala were each sentenced in December last year to 20 years imprisonment for murder and four years for attempted murder.
For use of drugs, driving under the influence of drugs, and racing on a public road, they got a year for each count.
Maarohanye and Tshabalala were accused of drag-racing in Protea North on March 8, 2010, when they crashed into a group of schoolboys.
Prince Mohube, Mlungisi Cwayi, Andile Mthombeni, and Phomello Masemola were killed. - Sapa