Cape Town – The bail application of the trio charged after the murder of Meghan Cremer has been postponed to December 27 in the Athlone Magistrate's Court.
Father-of-four Jeremy Sias, 27, and Charles Daniels, 39, both from Egoli informal settlement close to where Cremer lived, and Shiraaz Jaftha, 34, from Lotus River, had initially decided to remain in custody, but applied for bail yesterday.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said their submitted affidavits were given to the State only yesterday morning. The documents were read out in court by the legal representative of the accused.
However, the State requested a postponement so that it could study the affidavits and ask the investigating officer to investigate certain matters raised by the accused, Ntabazalila added.
Sias – a tractor driver on the Vaderlandsche Rietvlei Stables farm in Philippi where Cremer lived and stabled her horses – has been charged with murder, car theft, defeating the ends of justice and aggravated robbery.
Jaftha and Daniels have been charged with car theft and defeating the ends of justice.
The 30-year-old showjumper's body was discovered at a sand mine at a Philippi farm on August 8 after she went missing five days earlier.
Sias alleges he was beaten up for three days until he "could no longer handle it", after which officers "involuntarily obtained a statement" from him.
“I was arrested on the night of
August 5, 2019 at my home in Siqalo
squatter camp. I was informed that I
was being arrested in connection with
a stolen motor vehicle.
"I was systematically interrogated and beaten up at
30- to 45-minute intervals by members
of the SAPS from August 5 up until the
evening of August 7.
“I denied any knowledge of this
matter for a period of roughly three
days from my time of arrest until
August 7, when the assaults had
reached the point that I could no
longer handle it, after which the
police involuntarily obtained a statement from me,” Sias said in
his affidavit.
He attempted to force the State to grant him access to the police docket ahead of his bail application, regarding his confession, the pointing out of the location of Cremer's body and a medical report of an examination following his arrest.
The State opposed this application, with advocate Emily Van Wyk indicating that the accused were not entitled to these documents at this stage of the investigation, Ntabazalila said.
The court agreed and denied the application.