Durban - The family of Merebank mother Charmaine Naidoo, 32, who was killed earlier this year, are hoping to find out why she was murdered when one of her alleged killers appears in court on Tuesday.
On Monday Naidoo’s family watched from the gallery as Sifiso Joyisa, who uses a wheelchair, appeared briefly in the Durban Magistrate’s Court.
Joyisa, who was arrested last Friday, said he was assaulted by the community in an unrelated matter and as a result of that injury was in a wheelchair.
He spoke softly in court, telling the magistrate he wanted a legal aid attorney.
After consulting Joyisa, attorney Welile Ndlovu said he would apply for bail, but later said her client wanted to discuss a possible guilty plea.
The case was adjourned to Tuesday for Joyisa to consult his attorney.
His matter would also have to be separated from his co-accused and transferred to the regional court.
Joyisa’s co-accused Mand-lenkosi Jobe, who is a nightclub bouncer, was meant to make a formal bail application on Monday, but his attorney was not in court.
He told the court he had been informed that his lawyer was unavailable, but he still wished to apply for bail.
Magistrate Vanitha Armu told Jobe that another date had to be set for his bail application. The remaining accused, Bongani Manyathi, who is believed to be homeless, abandoned his bail application last month.
The State is opposed to bail for the men, who are charged with kidnapping, murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Naidoo, 32, of Merebank, was kidnapped from her home during an alleged house robbery on February 17.
She was later found dead in KwaMakhuta, near Isipingo, and her car was recovered near the Isipingo police station.
Naidoo, who ran a supermarket with her husband, Alvin Maistry, had been strangled with her thali, a traditional necklace worn by married Indian women.
According to Naidoo’s family, she had just returned home from her shop in Wentworth when the robbers stormed into the house.
They held Naidoo, her teenage daughter and four other children who were in the house, at gunpoint and then locked them in a room.
The men could not get Naidoo’s Tata to start, so they demanded that she drive the car so that they could escape.
It is also alleged that the attackers stole cash, a television set and a Samsung cellphone.
Four days after the murder, the police’s provincial task team arrested Manyathi and Jobe.
They were traced through footage from CCTV cameras at the spot where they abandoned Naidoo’s vehicle.
The Mercury