The state on Thursday labelled the new bail bid by AKA murder accused as a reshuffling of old facts they had presented previously.
Two of the five accused allegedly linked to the murders of rapper Kiernan AKA Forbes and his friend Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane in February 2023 appeared at the Durban magistrate’s court, where they made a fresh bid for bail “based on new facts”.
Senior state prosecutor Lawrence Gcaba tore into the defence case and labelled it as rehashing and reshuffling of facts they had presented in court when their bail was denied.
Mziwethemba Harvey Gwabeni, 36, and Lindokuhle Ndimande, 29, told the court through their legal representative, advocate Simphiwe Mlotshwa, on Thursday about the financial hardships endured by their families since their incarceration.
Among the new facts being raised by Ndimande was that after the refusal of bail in May, his taxi was involved in an accident and has not been repaired owing to his detention. He said he had also previously submitted the logbook to the court.
He said after he was incarcerated, he and his family suffered extreme financial difficulty as he was no longer employed.
It was also unclear when exactly the accident happened, as Mlotshwa told the court his client was informed about the accident late last year. However, that information raised questions from magistrate Vincent Hlatshwayo.
“How can a valuable asset like a taxi not be insured? How can it be abandoned like that?” asked Hlatshwayo.
Mlotshwa could not respond to that question and told the court he had not taken instructions about the vehicle having insurance.
Gcaba tore into the defence, questioning how Ndimande could fall into such financial hardship, as he previously told the court he derived income of more than R70,000 from his poultry business and an additional R20,000 from the taxi business.
“I can tell you now even some of the prosecutors do not earn that much and, in fact, earn far less than that. You are telling me that after the refusal of bail, you suffered extreme financial difficulties, and you lost 18% of the R90,000 you could have earned. You don’t make any effort to fix the taxi so that the family can benefit,” said Gcaba.
He also questioned how some photographs depicting a supposed broken taxi were taken next to a shack-like structure.
Gcaba told the court the state had additional evidence which pins the suspects to the murder.
He said the state had CCTV footage from Airports Company SA which showed Gwabeni limping, and was later seen driving off at the vicinity of the airport shortly after Forbes left.
A visibly irritated Ndimande showed the middle finger to a Sunday Times photographer while presiding magistrate Vincent Hlatshwayo quizzed his legal representative on why his client had not taken up an insurance policy on a taxi he owns.
Hlatshwayo reserved judgment until January 15.
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