During the final stages of a six-year marathon trial, the court heard that a mother had obtained an interdict against her own son after he twisted and nearly broke her arm months before her death.
Murder-accused Shakoor Roberts, 28, has been on trial at the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court since his arrest in March 2015.
Last week, on the anniversary of 61-year-old Gafsa Roberts’s death, the family hoped the case would finally be completed with a guilty verdict.
Roberts was expected to receive judgment on Friday but the case was delayed again when the state prosecutor presiding over the matter reported he had a death in the family.
The verdict was postponed to March 16.
Roberts is being held at Pollsmoor Prison. He has since taken the stand in his own defence in recent weeks.
The court presented new evidence, an interdict which Gafsa had obtained in 2014, against Roberts, just months before her death.
The interdict was handed in as an exhibit inside court.
Gafsa disappeared on February 27, 2015 and was last seen at her home in Winterhoek Street in Tafelsig, Mitchells Plain which she shared with her youngest son, namely, Roberts.
Roberts, an apparent schizophrenic, was receiving treatment from a medical facility. He was deemed fit to stand trial.
Relatives became worried and reported the grandmother missing while Roberts claimed his mother had left home for Hanover Park to visit her daughter, Rushaana Adams. But she had never arrived at the destination.
On March 2, 2015, neighbours became suspicious of a foul smell emanating from the dirt bin outside Gafsa’s home.
Neighbours then found Gafsa's body, which had already been washed after death.
Roberts was arrested and charged.
The State revealed it was in possession of two exhibits which could help its case against Roberts.
The first was an interdict which his mother had obtained, fearing for her life after he allegedly nearly broke her arm.
Extracts from the interdict were read out in court as Roberts’ denied any knowledge of the document.
His mother said she was emotionally and physically abused by Roberts. She further detailed in the document that Roberts said she was not his mother and that both of his friends had died and had used abusive and foul language, chasing her away then later threatening he would do something to her .
In the document, Gafsa said: “I am asking the court to tell him to stop abusing me as his mother. I want nothing from him. He must go and get a job and work and he must stop his drugs.”
Roberts was hit with another blow when the post-mortem report was presented to the court.
The report indicated that the victim had severe head trauma, that she had been throttled, her lungs were damaged and her throat injured.
She was hit with a blunt object which caused a head injury.
The court is expected to elaborate further on the interdict at the next appearance and carry out the verdict.
Roberts also previously denied seeing his mother’s body inside the dirt bin.
A neighbour known as Ismail Mukkadam noted that there was a smell inside the bin, it was heavy and that there was a body inside.
Roberts had previously claimed he had called his mother’s cellphone on several occasions but that she never answered.
He also previously stated while taking the witness stand that his mother was a business woman and a money lender and that he had respected her.
Adams says the family are devastated by all the delays in the case and that Roberts has shown no remorse. “When I saw him inside court, I just felt sick because he was smiling. How can he smile knowing what he did to our mother?
“He has shown no remorse.To think he has appeared on the same day her body was found and its six years and we have no closure.
“We understand that the State is dealing with a death in the family but we are also still dealing with our mother’ death and we do not need more postponements.”
Previously, a recording of Roberts alleged confession was deemed inaudible.
The recording had been made by a relative where Roberts claimed he had killed his mother and had asked her to recite Islamic prayers to prepare her for her death.
Weekend Argus