Durban - Frustration was the order of the day on Monday when the trial of the alleged “boiling water gang” was again adjourned – for reasons that have not been revealed to the victims or the media.
The trial, which has failed to get started for the past three years, was scheduled to begin at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday, but instead the matter was adjourned for the umpteenth time, to April next year.
Siyabonga Mchunu of Cramond, Lucky Mbonambi, 26, of Reunion in Isipingo, and Vusi Dlamini, 28, from K-section in uMlazi, allegedly terrorised and tortured two families when they poured two kettles of boiling water over Ahmed Lakhi, his two-year-old grandson, his teenage daughter, and another relative from Kranskop who was visiting the family at their home at the time.
The three were arrested shortly after the attack at an uMlazi service station when they were caught putting petrol into a stolen Volkswagen Microbus with a stolen petrol card.
Police established that a gang of six men went to the Albert Falls area on February 24, 2012, allegedly to stake out the Lakhi’s farmhouse.
Two days later, five of the armed gang members allegedly robbed the two families of money and tortured them.
Two kettles of boiling water were poured over six victims, which included a toddler and two children.
The robbers got away with handbags, jewellery, cellphones, and R40 000 in cash.
A member of the victim’s family who declined being named said they were “extremely frustrated and disappointed” that the trial had been delayed yet again.
Daily News
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