Murder case set for trial court

THE State had been ready in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court yesterday to transfer the murder case involving two brothers and their teen friends to a trial court, but this could not happen as one of the accused had not been brought from Westville Prison.

The two brothers aged 22 and 16 as well as their two teenage friends, aged 18 and 17, are alleged to have killed the boyfriend of the brothers’ mother in February by assaulting him with bottles and sticks.

The two brothers remain in custody after having been refused bail while their co-accused were out on bail.

While it was not said in court, the Daily News understands that the older brother had recently been sentenced in another matter.

He had also in the past been convicted of house robbery and sentenced to four years.

The four are charged with the murder of Mfano Mandana, which is alleged to have taken place on 10th Street in Clermont.

They are alleged to have assaulted Mandana with bottles and sticks when there were witnesses present. Mandana died at RK Khan Hospital. “The matter needed to be transferred to the trial court but since accused number one was not brought the matter is adjourned to August 25… so that we can transfer the matter to the court trial,” said magistrate Gwendolyn Robinson.

Previously the State had opposed bail for the older brother, who had been out on parole, citing safety as a concern, which was raised by a relative. Bail was not opposed for 18-yearold Andile Msomi.

In February, Msomi was granted bail of R1 000, with conditions that he relocates to the alternative address he had provided during his bid for release on bail, and that he does not interfere with the witnesses in the matter, who are known to him.

He is a Grade 10 pupil at Ziphathele High School, and in his bail application he told the court that he was not a flight risk because he was attending school.

The State was opposed to the release of the two brothers on bail, citing the safety of the state’s witness, their mother, adding that she was “scared of them”.

The 16-year-old had dropped out of school, according to his mother. She had pointed the two out, and they were arrested in her presence.

The court denied the older brother bail on the grounds that he had committed the alleged offence while on parole, and his 16-year-old brother was denied bail on the grounds that his mother was afraid of him and that he had failed to provide exceptional circumstances to the court warranting his release on bail.