Cape Town - One of the men charged with the murder of 33-year-old Kuils River mother Zara Hector will remain behind bars until his trial begins, after the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court refused to release him on bail.
Magistrate Vincent Ketye found Tawfeeq Ibrahim failed to prove there were exceptional circumstances which justified his release on bail. “Your personal circumstances are just commonplace. They are not of a degree that I can say they are exceptional,” the magistrate said on Friday.
Ibrahim, of Tuscany Glen in Blue Downs, and Ronaldo van Rooyen have been charged with murder, defeating the ends of justice and aggravated robbery. It is alleged they conspired to kill Hector for her boyfriend’s BMW Z3 because she owed Van Rooyen a large sum of money.
However, after their first plan to kill her allegedly failed, they managed to lure her to Van Rooyen’s home on March 15. She was bludgeoned to death with a hammer, allegedly inside Van Rooyen’s garage, and her body was wrapped in canvas and dumped in bushes at Groot Drakenstein.
It is alleged the pair later tried to sell the vehicle in Bishop Lavis.
Van Rooyen abandoned his bail application but Ibrahim set out to prove his release was of high importance to his two children, aged 2 and 3, who were financially dependent on him. In addition, he claimed he needed to continue working in order to pay for legal representation so he could defend himself.
However, in his judgment on Friday, Ketye said it emerged during Ibrahim’s cross-examination that his mother offered the children financial support.
Ibrahim did not say his family was unable to cope without his support and the court would therefore not be put in a position where it would have to consider alternative placement for the children, he said.
Ketye also said Ibrahim’s submissions regarding legal representation did not constitute an exceptional circumstance because he could be provided with a Legal Aid lawyer at no cost.
He referred to evidence that Ibrahim had attempted to influence a State witness on what she should or shouldn’t tell the police, and said the accused did not deny the allegation but simply refused to comment on it.
The court noted that he also knew other State witnesses and that one was related to him. Ibrahim refused to comment on the merits of the State’s case when put to him, without denying allegations against him, the magistrate said.
The accused also led police to the area where Hector was killed and the spot where her body was disposed of “like dumping a dog”.
Ketye was satisfied the State had a “very strong case” against Ibrahim, but warned that this must be viewed against the fact that he had to simply determine whether or not to release the accused on bail.
However, it was his view the charges were serious and granting bail would “seriously undermine the confidence of right-thinking people in society in the criminal justice system”.