Two farmers arrested after a dead man was found at the back of their bakkie covered with refuse plastic bags were denied bail in the Brits Magistrate's Court in North West.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson in Gauteng division, Lumka Mahanjana said Jaco Wessel Kemp and Louis Coetzee were denied bail on Friday, while the third accused, Gert Frederik van der Westhuizen was previously granted bail of R5,000, with conditions that he should report to the police station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Van der Westhuizen was granted bail on September 21 after he handed himself to the police.
The three are facing a charge of murder of Dumisani Phakathi, 45. He was reportedly beaten to death for fetching water at the farm of the accused.
“It is alleged that on September 17, at approximately 2am Kemp and Coetzee were stopped by the police during their stop and search operation, on the R511 toward Brits, driving a bakkie,” Mahanjana said.
“The bakkie was loaded with black garbage bags, and during the search, it is alleged that the police saw legs sticking out from under the bags covered with blood, when searching further, it as alleged that they found the body of the deceased covered with blood and his head covered with plastic.”
The two were arrested on the scene. Van Der Westhuizen handed himself over to the police on September 19 after investigations linked him to the offence.
Kemp and Coetzee 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.
Mahajana said prosecutor Octavia Pletschke opposed their bail application and read into the record the statement of the investigating officer of how the two were linked to the offence.
The court heard that the two were found approximately 60 km away from where Phakathi was killed, indicating they attempted to make it impossible to find the deceased or identify him.
Pletschke told the court that, given the strength of the State’s case, there was a likelihood that the two would evade trial, interfere with witnesses and conceal or destroy evidence, given that they had already tried.
She said releasing the two on bail would undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system.
“Magistrate Rosenberg 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 case was postponed to December 13, for further investigations.
IOL