#KFCAssault: Here are the accused

Stephan Nel, 39, Marius Harding, 23, DJ van Rooyen, 21, Ockert Muller, 20, and Joshua Scholtz, 21, at the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court. Picture: Bongani Shilubane/ANA

Stephan Nel, 39, Marius Harding, 23, DJ van Rooyen, 21, Ockert Muller, 20, and Joshua Scholtz, 21, at the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court. Picture: Bongani Shilubane/ANA

Published Aug 11, 2017

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* This story was updated on 14 August 2017.

Pretoria - Here they are - these are the five men accused of assaulting a black couple at a KFC outlet in Montana, Pretoria, last week.

They are Stephan Nel, 39, Marius Harding, 23, DJ van Rooyen, 21, Ockert Muller, 20, and Joshua Scholtz, 21.

The five, who were declared public enemy number one over the past week, appeared in court on Thursday and will spend another week at Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre before knowing the outcome of their bail application.

The five, who face charges of attempted murder, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and pointing a firearm, appeared before magistrate Mathloki Rapulana in the Pretoria North Magistrate's Court.

The case was postponed for clarity on the investigating officer’s affidavits.

Proceedings got off to a surprising start when one of the accused, Harding, abandoned his bail application.

It is believed he has previous assault convictions.

Another of the accused, Muller, was granted bail last week at the same court.

It was down to their three accomplices versus the State during the bail application.

The tug-of-war began when the defence attorneys for the three objected to State prosecutor Ronnie Sibanda’s schedule 5 offence of attempted murder.

The defence attorneys tried to convince the magistrate that there was no proof to sustain the attempted murder charge.

But after deliberations, they accepted the charges of the schedule 5 offence in order to continue with the bail application.

WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO

#CountryDuty

Here's the video!

Someone knows them.

Let's report them to the authorities! 😡😡

RT & tag SAPS pic.twitter.com/5jIP0jyC9s

— Tumi Sole (@tumisole) August 4, 2017

Nel’s attorney argued that his client needed to receive bail because of his heart condition.

It is believed that the 39-year-old has a blood pressure issue and needs to take chronic medication for hypertension.

His attorney also argued that Nel was the sole breadwinner in his household, and that his stay-at-home wife and 22-month-old baby depended on him.

The other accused - Van Rooyen and Scholtz - tried to assure the magistrate that they were not a flight risk, saying that if they were granted bail, they wouldn't interfere with the investigation.

Scholtz handed himself over to the police on Monday.

A video of the couple being attacked sparked anger when it was shared on social media last Friday, prompting Police Minister Fikile Mbalula to request an urgent investigation.

The couple were allegedly assaulted when they asked the driver of the car in front of them to move forward in the drive-through queue last week.

The men had ordered and were supposed to fetch their food at the next window. In the video, the attackers could be heard swearing at Jacob Sono, 39, and his wife Dudu, 33.

Police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubele said the five were driving in two separate cars and attacked the couple behind them in the queue last Wednesday evening.

Makhubele said a firearm was drawn and used to intimidate the couple.

One of the men was heard saying “skiet hom (shoot him)” in the video.

Makhubele said the couple were receiving trauma counselling following their ordeal.

The five men will return to court next Friday.

Pretoria News

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