Pretoria - Following revelations made by the police that the skeletal remains which were found in the backyard of a house in Ga-Rankuwa’s Zone 8 were those of a retired lecturer who was reported missing in 2010, the accused appeared in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday to apply for bail.
The trio of the deceased’s wife Mafa Moema, 58, and two sons, Onkgopotse, 27, and Moseki, 23, are accused of murdering Abraham Moema, allegedly for financial gain.
Abraham, who was a retired lecturer, went missing from his Ga-Rankuwa home on March 1, 2010. His remains were found in the family’s back garden, just metres from the bedroom window which Abraham shared with his wife. The remains were found when Abraham’s daughter, Mathlodi, 34, hired people to pave part of the yard.
Mathlodi was also arrested for allegedly trying to destroy the evidence. The four of them appeared briefly in court.
The case was postponed to September 25 for a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions. Following the postponement, the legal teams representing the three informed the magistrate that they would like to apply for bail again.
The matter was referred to Court B, where State prosecutor Adrian Oosthuizen informed the defence team that if the accused wished to apply for bail, they would have to come up with new facts as the previous application was denied.
The defence team of Norman Mononyane and Enoch Bapela informed the court that there was a precedent which said that all the bail applications which were being handled by a certain Mr Skhosane be declared in de novo (start afresh) and should be resumed.
Oosthuizen, however, disagreed with the suggestion and said they had not received anything in writing instructing them to resume the cases. “The matter will have to be based on new facts as the previous application was denied. The prosecution has never received anything in writing saying that Mr Skhosane’s cases should be started over. There is no just cause for the matter to start in de novo,” he said.
Magistrate Lettie Smit shared the same sentiments and said she was prepared to listen to the case, but based on new facts.
Pretoria News