Polokwane – The Limpopo High Court in Polokwane on Monday rejected an application by Limpopo businessman Rameez Patel to have a murder charge against him dropped after the court was informed two State witnesses were missing.
The application by Patel, 30, who is on trial for allegedly murdering his wife, was dismissed by Judge France Kgomo.
Kgomo said the court was satisfied that the requirements for a further postponement has been made by the State who had earlier indicated that the two witnesses were crucial to the case.
Read: Patel murder trial: witnesses flee SA
“The defence lawyer Tumi Mokoena submitted an application after the State applied for a postponement because of two key state witnesses who allegedly escaped from the Witness Protection Unit,” said Kgomo.
Mokoena lambasted the State and told the court that it did not make any security sense that witnesses could just escape under police watch.
He argued that the delays were traumatising Patel’s children.
But the court ruled that the postponement would not “be detrimental and prejudicial to the accused”.
“The interests of justice will not be served if the State is not afforded the opportunity to procure rendered evidence of its witnesses,” said Kgomo when ruling against Patel.
Kgomo said the fact that Patel was out on bail was a clear indication that his liberty was not at stake.
However, Kgomo warned that his court would not entertain another application for postponement by the State.
State prosecutor Mashudu Mudau told court that the two witnesses, Zimabwean nationals who were working for Patel, had “escaped” from the Witness Protection Unit following complaints about the conditions they were subjected to in the programme.
Mudau said the two witnesses had complained that they could not use the salaries provided by the Witness Protection Programme to buy food and accommodation. The accused had provided them with these free of charge.
No details were revealed about how the two witnesses managed to escape from the Witness Protection programme.
Patel, who was arrested in April 2015 after he was linked to the murder of his wife, Fatima Patel, at their home in Nirvana, Polokwane, has denied killing his wife. He blamed an intruder for the murder.
During a protracted bail hearing last year, Patel revealed that nothing was stolen from the house.
Judge Kgomo has postponed the trial to August 1.
The State now has more than five months to locate the witnesses, whose relatives also claim that they are not aware of their whereabouts.
African News Agency
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