Durban - Convicted wife killer Sunesh Manilall has been given another year on bail, to the anger and frustration of his dead wife’s family, after his appeal failed to get off the ground at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday.
Manilall is out on bail of R40 000 pending his appeal against his conviction and sentence for the murder of his wife, Monika Manilall.
Manilall’s bail conditions were also amended to allow him the freedom to enter any jurisdiction in KwaZulu-Natal, so he may conduct his tow-trucking company.
The appeal was expected to be heard before a full bench on Friday. However, Manilall’s advocate, Yoga Moodley, revealed that portions of the trial transcripts were missing.
Moodley said the appeal could not proceed until these missing portions were reconstructed.
The missing portions include the cross-examinations of Manilall’s co-accused, Viktor Mbatha, and the trigger man, Sibongiseni Mdlalose.
The appeal was then adjourned to May 6 next year and Manilall’s bail was extended.
Monika’s brother, Suren Ramjas, who was at court with other family members on Friday, said he was shocked that Manilall was “playing the system” and finding every loophole he could to avoid going to prison.
“Where is the justice for my sister? This man can just continue to live his life and pay no consequences for his actions. Another year wasted,” Ramjas said.
Manilall was convicted, with the woman he later married, Mumtaz Osman, and Mbatha, of orchestrating the murder of his first wife, Monika, in February 2006.
Monika was shot dead in her Howick home by four men found to have been hired to carry out the murder for a fee of R10 000.
The trial judge, the late KZN judge president Herbert Msimang, ruled that Manilall and his lover, Osman, assisted by Mbatha, had hired men to murder Monika because she had threatened to divorce her husband after finding out about his affair.
Manilall, Osman and Mbatha were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Manilall subsequently petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal for leave to appeal his conviction, which was granted.
In June 2011, he was released on R40 000 bail pending his appeal to a full bench.
Manilall and Osman (who is serving her life sentence at Westville Prison) have since divorced and Manilall has again remarried.
Mdlalose pleaded guilty to the murder and is also serving a life sentence.
Daily News