Johannesburg - As the rage of the Reiger Park community threatens to boil over, the man accused of being responsible for the death of four-year-old Taegrin Morris has been dumped by his lawyer.
On Friday, the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court, where Thamsanqa Brutus Twala’s bail application was about to go ahead, was surrounded by razor wire, police vehicles and dozens of armed officers.
Taegrin died as he was dragged for kilometres, hanging out of his mother Chantal’s hijacked car, three months ago.
On Tuesday last week, police announced they had arrested one of the suspected hijackers, reopening the emotional wounds of the community and Taegrin’s family.
The following day, dozens of Reiger Park residents exploded with emotion in the courthouse, prompting the tight security yesterday morning.
At Twala’s appearance in court last week, just as the magistrate took his first step out of the room, the gallery erupted in screams, shouts and threats that followed Twala as he returned to the holding cells.
“No bail!” the crowd screamed, with some people jumping on benches, pointing fingers and grimacing.
The outburst led court officials to threaten to ban residents from the courtroom.
About half of Friday’s group, clad in T-shirts printed with Taegrin’s face, were in the end allowed inside.
Ekurhuleni Metro and SAPS officers, as well as guards from the Department of Correctional Services, surrounded the perimeter, prepared to deal with any violence.
Twala seemed rattled as he ascended the stairs from the court’s cells, surrounded by photographers and residents of a community that had publicly threatened to kill him.
In contrast to his previous appearance, there were only a few gasps from the gallery.
Assigned from the office of the director of public prosecutions, advocate Matsheliso Moleko told the court that the bail application could not go ahead as Twala’s legal representative was not present in court.
It was then revealed that the lawyer was “indisposed” and had not been paid for his services, leading to his withdrawal.
Twala told the court that he had been in contact with another lawyer, and this representative would be available this coming Friday.
The case was postponed to November 14.
Outside the court, community leader Hein April marshalled the Reiger Park residents together to speak to the media, saying they “had come in peace”.
However, as he spoke to the media about how unhappy they were about the overzealous police monitoring the court, his evangelical delivery roused the crowd.
He claimed only a few residents had been allowed into the courtroom, and that police had threatened to remove them for making the slightest noise.
“It boils down to intimidation,” he shouted.
“If they send 200 police officers, we will be 200 000.
“We are not coming to fight, but we have decided there will be no bail!” he continued, eliciting further loud chants of “No bail” from the crowd.
Taegrin’s father, Elwin, told the media that his wife could not come to the proceedings because she simply could not look at the face of a man who might have killed her child.
“Seeing someone who killed my child is hard,” he said, before making his way.
Saturday Star