Durban - Two men charged with the execution-style killing of a Pinetown man last month were granted bail at the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court - to the horror of the victim’s family.
Vinodhan Ashwin Chetty, 31, and Emmanuel Manikum, 18, were each granted R2 000 bail by Magistrate Ntsoaki Khahane on Friday.
The magistrate found that it was in the interests of justice that the two men be granted bail, on condition that they reported to the Mountain Rise police station twice a week.
Khahane found that the men did not pose a flight risk and would not try to evade justice.
The two are charged with the murder of Paul Moses, a former Pietermaritzburg resident and retired businessman.
Moses’s family and friends could not hide their rage and despair when they heard the magistrate’s ruling. Loud gasps of outrage and disbelief echoed through the packed courtroom.
Family spokeswoman, Naseema Peerbhai, Moses’s niece, said the magistrate’s decision had shattered their faith in the justice system.
“We really feel like the justice system has failed us. For the suspects and their families to walk out of that court with smiles on their faces was mortifying. How they can be granted a measly R2 000 when they are charged with taking an innocent life in such a brutal manner is beyond me,” Peerbhai said.
She said the thought of Moses’s alleged killers being allowed back into society was appalling.
“This is a true example of the South African judicial system failing taxpaying citizens yet again. We will continue fighting for justice for Paul. We will not give up. God knows what happened that day, and the truth shall come out,” an emotional Peerbhai said.
It is alleged the suspects lured Moses to Pietermaritzburg on December 11 on the pretext of selling him a truck, then shot him once in the head and robbed him of his car, cash and two cellphones.
Moses’s family reported him missing on December 12, after he failed to return home.
His decomposed body was found floating in a stream near the Bob Mattison informal settlement in Copesville, Pietermaritzburg, on December 15, after Manikum apparently had an attack of conscience and surrendered to police.
Manikum allegedly led police to Moses’s body and implicated Chetty in a confession.
After Chetty’s arrest, he, too, allegedly made a confession, which he is now challenging, claiming he was assaulted by police into making it.
According to testimony by investigating officer Mbongeni Dladla at the bail application, Moses’s bloodstained car was found on Chetty’s ex-in-laws property.
A firearm, believed to be the murder weapon, was allegedly found in Chetty’s wife’s possession. She later told police that her husband had given her the gun to hide. Police discovered that the gun was reported stolen from a policeman in May 2011.
The case has been adjourned to March 3.
Daily News