Durban - The State showed it was serious in prosecuting Umhlanga businessman Sateesh Isseri for the murder of his girlfriend who disappeared almost nine years ago when, on Friday, it served him with an indictment to stand trial in the Durban High Court later this year.
Isseri, the owner of Circle Health Centre, made a less dramatic court appearance on Friday than in November last year when he arrived on a stretcher, surrounded by paramedics and attached to a machine which emitted “pings”.
Medical records handed in to court showed that he had had a stroke, had a stent put in his heart and needed further operations.
He was granted bail of R50 000.
He has since been released from hospital and will stand trial in September this year.
The indictment is brief: it alleges that Isseri was involved in an intimate relationship with Faieka Esop Ali.
Some time before February 9, 2007, their relationship soured and Ali wanted to call it off.
On that day, Isseri went to Ali’s home and he took her away in his car.
She was not seen alive again.
The indictment states “she was killed by the accused in circumstances unknown”.
Among the witnesses are police officers, relatives of Ali, and a cellphone records investigator. The names of some witnesses have been withheld.
Isseri was named as a suspect in the matter in a Durban High Court application in which Ali’s family sought an order presuming that she was dead.
In his bail application, his attorney Anand Nepaul said he had been interviewed by police several times.
“He wants this over and he wants to prove his innocence once and for all,” Nepaul submitted.
Isseri claims he was once contacted by a man called Ebrahim Dayal who said he had done business with Ali after the date she supposedly went missing.
The Mercury