DURBAN - Members of the Wentworth community are on tenterhooks waiting to know if the alleged murderers of Bianca Parsons will be granted bail in the Durban Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
It has been revealed in court that the Wentworth mother was the victim of a botched revenge plot following a murder at a Durban nightclub last year.
Darryl Murrisson, 33, and Christopher Houston, 26, appeared at Court A of Durban Magistrate’s Court for Houston’s bail application.
Murrisson intends to plead guilty to charges of murder, and attempted murder and may face an additional premeditated murder charge as the investigating officer, Erugubathy Naidoo, believed the accused strategically planned the murder.
Naidoo recounted what appeared in the video footage taken from the Engen filling station where the murder happened on the evening of February 24.
According to Naidoo, Parsons was seated in the drivers seat of a red Polo vehicle as her three year old daughter sat in the backseat.
Her husband, Orson, went into the convenience store before a red Chery QQ3 vehicle parked next to Parsons. Naidoo said members of the Ernest family were inside the Chery vehicle and were believed to be Murrisson and Houston’s target.
He said a white VW Polo, driven by Houston with Murrisson in the passenger seat, can be seen following the Ernest family into the garage and parking a distance from the car.
Naidoo said Houston was seen tucking a firearm into his pants before the pair went into the shop to buy a pie and water, and left the garage. When they returned Houston was seen handing "something" to Murrisson inside the vehicle.
The state argues that Houston handed a firearm to Murrisson which he would use moments later to fire two shots into the red Polo car. Murrisson approached the right side of the red Polo, where Parsons had been seated and fired two shots.
“Parsons died from a penetrating gunshot wound to her back which entered her chest,” said Naidoo.
Members of the gallery, including Parsons' family and friends from Wentworth, scoffed at Houston’s claim of innocence in his bail application.
Through his attorney, Ridewaan Sayed, Houston said he did not know of Morrison’s plans to shoot someone and denied that Murrisson a had handed over a firearm.
Houston was previously employed at the Engen Refinery in Wentworth earning over R20 000 to support his fiancé of ten years and children aged 8 years and 8 months old, the court heard.
Naidoo had to be rushed to hospital after telling the magistrate he had been feeling ill. The bail application has been postponed until Thursday.