By Obakeng Maje

Pretoria- Three suspects who are accused of murdering a former world heavyweight boxing champion Corrie Sanders will appear in court today.

Sanders won the World Boxing Organisation’s heavyweight title in March 2003 by dropping Ukrainian Wladimir Klitsckho in the second round in Hanover, Germany. He retired five years later.

He was at the Thatch Haven Country Lodge, in Brits, on September 22 when armed robbers entered and began firing shots at random. Sanders was hit in the hand and stomach and died in the Kalafong hospital the next day.

Earlier on Monday, the three men accused of murdering Sanders appeared in the Brits Magistrate’s Court.

Paida Fish, 19, Samuel Mabena, 27, and Chris Moyo, 25, each face one count of murder and three charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Mabena also appeared in court three weeks ago in connection with the murder of farmer Mauritz Oberholzer near Brits on September 5. This matter was postponed.

The three were arrested in the Oukasie informal settlement, near Brits, a month ago after police received a tip-off, police spokesman Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said.

At the address where the men were arrested, police recovered a cellphone, vehicle key, purse, handbag, and cash believed to have been stolen during the robbery in which Sanders was shot.

“Police then went to a second address and a third suspect was arrested” Ngubane said.

The three men are Zimbabweans.

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