Durban -
One of the men charged with kidnapping and killing a Durban woman, who was taken from her home during a robbery, has abandoned his bid for bail.
Charmaine Naidoo, 32, of Merebank, was kidnapped from her home on February 17.
She was found dead in KwaMakhuta, near Isipingo.
Naidoo, who had run a supermarket with her husband in Jacobs, had been strangled.
Four days after the murder, the police’s provincial task team arrested Bongani Manyathi, 28, and Mandlenkosi Jobe, 40.
Manyathi is believed to be homeless and Jobe works at a nightclub as a bouncer.
On Monday, both men were meant to apply for bail but Manyathi told Durban Regional Court magistrate Vanitha Armu that he did not want to proceed with his application.
His co-accused’s attorney, Jothi Chellan, said she had been prepared for the bail application but her client had instructed another lawyer.
The case was adjourned for Jobe’s new lawyer to prepare his bail application.
The State is opposed to bail for the men, who are charged with kidnapping, murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
It is also alleged that the attackers stole cash, a television and a Samsung cellphone from Naidoo’s home.
According to Naidoo’s family, she had been at her home with her children when the armed robbers came into the house.
They held the family at gunpoint and then locked the children in a room.
The men could not get Naidoo’s vehicle, a Tata, to start and they came back to the house for her.
They demanded that she drive the car so that they could escape.
Police tracked down the suspects using CCTV footage from the scene where Naidoo’s car was abandoned which was where they used a private taxi as a getaway vehicle.
The case was adjourned to next month for a formal bail hearing for Jobe.
Manyathi was remanded in custody.
The Mercury