Durban - Twelve men accused of being responsible for the Brook Street taxi rank shooting in Durban that left three people dead, claimed on Friday that in the absence of forensic evidence it would be unfair to detain them while twelve others allegedly involved in the shoot-out were not even facing charges.
Lawyer Jimmy Howse told the Durban Magistrate’s Court during the closing argument of their bail hearing that no evidence had been presented proving that his clients had been responsible for the shooting.
The 12 men who are seeking to be released on bail, were arrested and charged in the wake of the shoot-out at the Brook Street taxi rank in Durban on September 16.
Zamokuhle Long Distance Taxi Association and the Sonke Long Distance Taxi Association have been in a dispute over the route between Port Shepstone and the Brook Street taxi rank in Durban near the Berea Road station.
The 12 claim they were at the rank as members of the Berea Long Distance Taxi Association and had nothing to do with the Sonke and Zamokuhle associations.
However, the prosecution alleges that although none of the men are officially registered on the government database as being members of any of the three taxi associations, they acted for Sonke, which is muscling in on the taxi routes between Durban and the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.
The court had previously heard that 24 men had been arrested, but 12, who were with the Zamokuhle association were subsequently released and not charged.
Investigating officer Major Mandla Michael Dlamini told the court last week that the decision to withdraw charges had not been taken by him, but by the prosecution team. He also told the court that forensic evidence determining who had fired shots – 120 spent cartridges were found at the scene of the shoot-out – had yet to be received by police.
“There is no evidence absolving the Zamokuhle bodyguards. The suspicion against Zamokuhle is no less than against the applicants (his clients),” said Howse as he delivered his closing argument in the bail hearing on Friday.
He said that his clients were being treated unfairly in the absence of any clear evidence implicating them and that the State had failed to present any evidence showing that his clients were members of the Sonke association. He said there was no evidence showing who was criminally responsible.
He described the state’s decision to release the Zamokuhle body guards as “controversial”. He said his clients were “erroneously being accused of being members of Sonke”.
Referring to one of the attempted murder charges, he said it was highly unlikely that that they would shoot one of their own, Thokozani Sikhakhane in the buttocks.
“Ironically the 12th applicant is charged with the attempted murder of himself,” said Howse.
The 12 men are facing three counts of murder, two of attempted murder and one of public violence.
Howse also said that the accused should not be denied bail simply because of a general fear of taxi violence.
Prosecutor Khumbu Shazi was expected to present her closing argument later on Friday. It is not clear when Magistrate Phumlani Bhengu would rule on whether the men would be granted bail.
ANA