Miguel Louw's accused deserves to spend Christmas behind bars, says mother

Minutes after Mohammed Ebrahim’s bail was denied, his father, Sheik Ebrahim Shah, left, shared a few words with his son’s lawyer Chris Gounden. Ebrahim is accused of murdering 9-year-old Sydenham schoolboy Miguel Louw.

Minutes after Mohammed Ebrahim’s bail was denied, his father, Sheik Ebrahim Shah, left, shared a few words with his son’s lawyer Chris Gounden. Ebrahim is accused of murdering 9-year-old Sydenham schoolboy Miguel Louw.

Published Dec 22, 2018

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“I’m very happy that he will be spending Christmas behind bars. He deserves it.”

The words of Miguel Louw’s mother, Raylene, were sharp and cutting, uttered as she left the Durban Magistrate’s Court, after her son’s alleged killer, Mohammed Ebrahim, 43, was denied bail.

Magistrate Sifiso Luthuli ruled that there were no exceptional circumstances to grant bail to Ebrahim, charged with murdering the 9-year-old Grade 4 pupil.

Upon hearing that his application for bail had failed, Ebrahim shouted loudly, “It’s wrong, it’s wrong”. While being led down to the holding cells, he also shouted that he wanted to see his father, 77-year-old Sheik Ebrahim Shah, who sat in the public gallery throughout the bail hearing.

Ebrahim is facing charges of kidnapping, theft and murder, which stem from Miguel Louw’s disappearance on July 17. CCTV footage allegedly shows Ebrahim leading the boy to a KFC restaurant located near the boy’s school, Rippon Road Primary School, buying him a meal, and leading him out of the restaurant.

It has been claimed that Ebrahim told the boy to walk home, also located nearby, while he allegedly boarded a taxi that took him to central Durban and then boarded another taxi to Phoenix, where he lives in a wendy house in his parents' yard.

Ebrahim said he had been involved in a relationship with Raylene, and had lived at her home in Sydenham for a while. He said they had both worked at a butchery.

Ebrahim was arrested three days after Miguel’s disappearance, and was reportedly found in possession of Raylene’s identity document and Miguel’s birth certificate, which he said he found lying in the yard.

Miguel’s decomposed body was found in September in bushes off Longbury Drive, not far from Ebrahim’s home.

Luthuli said the State had a strong case against Ebrahim, and described him as a “poor witness”.

“There is evidence of an eyewitness who saw the accused fetching the deceased from school (taking) him to KFC and (buying) him chicken.

"The body of the deceased was found some 48 days later near the accused’s home. During this period the accused never told the mother that he met the deceased and bought him KFC,” said Luthuli.

“When he was arrested he did not, on his own, disclose that he was with the deceased on the afternoon of July 17. In fact, he denied everything about the missing child. It was only when police showed him the video (of him buying a meal for Miguel at the KFC outlet) that he changed his version, and said he took the deceased to KFC.

"The State does not have a weak case. I think that the circumstantial evidence shows that the accused had a motive and the opportunity to kill the deceased.”

The magistrate labelled Ebrahim as “argumentative and evasive”. “He intentionally misled the deceased’s mother when she asked him if he knew where the deceased was. He knew she was desperately looking for her son. He said he didn’t help to look for the deceased because she did not ask, yet he said they were lovers, and he had cared for the deceased. When asked if he told his sister that he bought the deceased KFC, he came with a ridiculous answer that he does not tell his sister what he does,” said Luthuli.

He said he believed there was a likelihood that if Ebrahim was released on bail, he would attempt to evade the trial. “I also find that there is a likelihood that the accused will attempt to influence or intimidate or conceal evidence. He had misled police on where to find his phone,” said Luthuli.

Family and friends from the Sydenham community cheered at the magistrate’s decision. When asked outside court what he thought of his son’s bail outcome, Sheik Ebrahim Shah said his son was “safer and better off inside than outside jail”.

The case resumes on January 31.

Independent On Saturday

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