There was drama at Durban Regional Court when one of the four men accused of kidnapping Durban businesswoman Sandra Munsamy said that he had been threatened by his co-accused and wanted to be isolated from them.
The fourth accused, who was applying for bail, asked the court that he be isolated from the other men as he was being emotionally abused by his co-accused.
He said the men told him they wanted him to plead guilty to the charges as he was the one found in the house from where Munsamy was rescued. The men also threatened to say that he was the leader of the group, he said.
“I ask the court to keep me in isolation,” the man pleaded.
The man is one of four people facing charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances after Munsamy was kidnapped in Pinetown in May last year.
She was found six months later in Witbank, Mpumalanga.
The mother of two and financial manager at Crossmoor Transport Plant was apparently chained to a bed during her capture.
On Tuesday, the fourth accused, 35, said he wanted to be kept in a separate section from his co-accused at Westville prison.
Asked by prosecutor Kuveshni Pillay to be more specific about who was threatening him, the Mpumalanga man said it was accused 1 and 3.
Quizzed further, he said it was accused 1, who used accused 3 as a messenger when the threats were made.
Asked why he did not report the threats earlier, he said: “I did not know how the courts worked and I was confused.”
Accused 1 and 2 have abandoned their bail bids. The man said he was guarding Munsamy under duress when he was arrested last year, after being threatened by accused 3.
The man, a father of three, said he made a living by working odd jobs and knew accused 3 who was a “tenderpreneur” as he worked with him on previous occasions at funerals.
He said accused 3 offered him a job that would pay R10 000 to R15b000 for about a month’s work.
When he arrived for the job, accused 3 told him he had to guard Munsamy.
Accused 4 said he baulked at this and said he was leaving, but accused 3 threatened him.
“He refused to let me go back home and said there was no going back.”
Accused 3 allegedly showed him a gun and a bullet to drive the point home.
“He placed his hand on my chest to see if I was nervous,” accused 4 said.
Accused 3 allegedly said he did this because he did not want accused 4 to report him to the police.
Accused 3 also took away his two cellphones and he could only talk to his girlfriend when allowed to by accused 3, accused 4 said.
He said he never saw Munsamy in the two weeks he was at the house and was forbidden to enter her room.
Daily News