Malalane - An Mpumalanga magistrate told a man facing a number of charges that he should be singing a funeral song because he was already heading to his end.
Innocent Ngomane, 27, of Matsulu township outside Mbombela, pleaded not guilty to two charges of motor vehicle theft and robbery when he appeared in the Tonga Magistrate's Court on Friday, a Sapa correspondent reported.
“I am transferring your cases to the Tonga Regional Court opposite to this one where they are going to cook you well, my boy,” senior magistrate Sam Nkuna told Ngomane.
The magistrate jokingly said he thought Ngomane would sing “Nyathela Kancane (Step Lightly)”, a song popularly sung at funerals.
“I thought I would hear you singing this funeral song 'Nyathela Kancane' because you are almost there,” said Nkuna.
Ngomane allegedly committed the offences in November 2010 at Langeloop Trust, where Enoch Shabangu was robbed of his Volkswagen Citi Golf.
Prosecutor Frederick Mhelembe told the court Ngomane first appeared in the same court on November 28, 2010, when he was granted R700 bail.
“You failed to come to court three times until a warrant of arrest was issued on June 22, 2011, until you were arrested on April 22, 2014,” said Mhelembe.
Ngomane is also one of seven people accused of killing Constable Sfiso Mtsweni, who was shot dead at his home in Langeloop, south of Malalane, on November 8, 2013.
He has been remanded in custody in both cases. Nkuna postponed the case to June 27 for the trial to start in the regional court.
Sapa