By OBAKENG MAJE
Three men who are accused of killing a farm worker, Dumisani Phakathi (45) briefly appeared at Brits Magistrate’s Court. It is alleged that on 17 September 2023, at approximately 2am, Jaco Wessel Kemp (35) and Luis Coetzee (35), were stopped by the police during their stop and search operation on the R511 toward Brits driving a bakkie.
The bakkie was allegedly loaded with black garbage bags and during the search, the police saw legs sticking out from under the bags covered with blood.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson in Gauteng, Lumka Mahanjana said when the police searched further, they allegedly discovered the body of the deceased covered with blood and his head covered with plastic.
“The two suspects were then arrested on the scene by the police. The third suspect, Gert Frederik Van der Weshuizen (38) handed himself over to the police on 19 September 2023 after investigations linked him to the offence.
“Van der Weshuizen was granted bail of R5000, with conditions that he should report to the police station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Kemp and Coetzee, who were denied bail, told the court that they intend to plead not guilty to the charges and asked the court to release them on bail because they were breadwinners of their families,” she said.
However, the District Court prosecutor Octavia Pletschke, opposed their bail application and read into the record the statement of the Investigating Officer, Sgt Sebotjane of Brits SAPS of how the two were linked to the offence. Pletschke further said not only that the two were found approximately 60km away from where the deceased was killed, therefore they attempted to make it impossible to find the deceased or identify him.
Pletschke added that, given the strength of the state case, there is likelihood that the two accused will evade trial, interfere with witnesses and conceal or destroy evidence given that they had already tried.
“Moreover, she said releasing the two on bail would undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system. Magistrate Rosenburg agreed with the state that releasing the two accused on bail was not in the interest of justice, given the strength of the state case, therefore bail was denied.
“The matter was postponed to 13 December 2023 for further investigations,” said Mahanjana.
The Guardian 