Cape Town - The case against six suspects arrested in connection with the shooting attack at the Cape Town station deck taxi rank last week has been postponed to next Wednesday.
Xolani Thafeni, Thobela Dingani, Meluxolo Pikini, Lwandiso Paul Diamond, Siyabulela Velile and Sinethemba Mngambi appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, where they heard that the State opposed their bail application.
The court said the six will appear next week for a formal bail application, while their attorney, Sydney Tsotso, said that the arrest of accused two (Velile) was unfair.
“Imagine that someone who never went to prison is now in prison for accusations that he doesn’t even know, that his firearm was used to shoot in public, when the accused says that never happened,” Tsotso said.
The six suspects are facing charges of attempted murder after they were arrested following the shooting in which six people, including a woman in a wheelchair, were wounded on the station deck last week Monday.
However, Tsotso said at least Velile must be out on bail; meanwhile the court was still investigating the matter.
Of the six accused, only four (Thafeni, Dingani, Pikini and Diamond) appeared last week on Thursday, while the other two accused, Velile and Mngambi, who were arrested first on the day of the shooting, appeared in court two days before them (the other four), and the court decided to add their dockets together.
It is believed the shooting is related to a later shooting at the Nyanga taxi rank in which five people were killed and two were wounded.
Cape Argus