Johannesburg - As police continue their hunt for more suspects believed to be part of an assassination plot to derail the Sam Issa murder trial, the first alleged hitman appeared on Monday in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court.
An alleged major drug dealer, Issa was gunned down in Bedfordview in 2013, execution-style, after more than 30 bullets were fired into the side of his luxury Audi Q7.
Issa was linked to Radovan Krejcir, an alleged underworld kingpin, and according to reports was seen outside the Czech businessman’s home the night before his death.
Krejcir and three others - Siboniso Miya, Nkanyiso Mafunda and Simphiwe Memela - have been charged with Issa’s death. Last week, police foiled an alleged conspiracy to murder at least five key witnesses in Issa’s trial, set to go ahead on Tuesday.
In a major operation at the Shell Ultra City on the M2 highway, Sakhile Bhengu was arrested as he tried to escape from the filling station’s Steers restaurant.
Bhengu was ordered to lie on the ground by the dozen heavily armed Tactical Response Team police officers who surrounded him next to the black BMW he was driving, which was parked outside the restaurant.
Police believe Bhengu was going to be the one to gun down the witnesses at the weekend, hired specifically to stymie the court proceedings.
While police believe other suspects were involved in the conspiracy to kill the Issa witnesses, they have not been apprehended.
On Monday, Bhengu appeared briefly in the dock, where his case was postponed to July 21 for a bail application.
It’s understood that Bhengu is Miya’s uncle, and has also been linked to another armed robbery alongside Miya where a child was killed.
Meanwhile, Issa’s murder trial was set to begin in the Germiston Regional Court on Tuesday.
All the suspects in the murder trial have also been charged with conspiracy to kill private investigator and forensic consultant Paul O’Sullivan, while Krejcir is also on trial for another kidnapping and attempted murder incident.
The Star