Tag: accused

Martin Keevy ‘not fit to stand trial’ in treason case

Martin Keevy comforting his wife upon hearing that he has been refused bail
Martin Keevy comforting his wife upon hearing that he has been refused bail

One of four rightwingers accused of plotting to murder senior ANC leaders is not fit to stand trial, his lawyer said on Friday.

Martin Keevy, 49, of Bloemfontein appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on charges of treason and conspiracy to plan acts of terrorism.

Marius Bruwer, for Keevy, said a unanimous psychiatric report from the Free State Psychiatric Complex found he lacked criminal accountability and was unfit to stand trial.

Prosecutor Torie Pretorius told magistrate Andries Schoeman the State disputed the contents of the report and asked for a further 30-day postponement for a re-evaluation.

“The State does not agree with the conclusions of the report,” Pretorius said.

Bruwer did not oppose the application.

Keevy was admitted to the complex again on Friday, where the State’s experts would re-evaluate him. He would be back in court on August 16.

The State alleges that Keevy, Mark Trollip, Johan Prinsloo, and Hein Boonzaaier were part of a group who plotted to kill African National Congress leaders at the party’s Mangaung elective conference in December 2012. They allegedly called this “Die Slag van Mangaung” (The Battle of Mangaung).

Keevy, Trollip, and Prinsloo were denied bail, while Boonzaaier was granted R80,000 bail.

Trollip, Prinsloo, and Boonzaaier were expected to appear in court again on August 23. – Sapa

Corrie Sanders’s murderers in court

Corrie Sanders

Three black men accused of murdering former world heavyweight boxing champion Corrie Sanders appeared in the Brits Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

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

The matter was postponed to October 8 for further investigation. The men will remain in custody.

Mabena also appeared in court on Monday in connection with the murder of farmer Mauritz Oberholzer near Brits on September 5. This matter was postponed until Tuesday.

The three were arrested in the Oukasie informal settlement, near Brits, on Thursday after police received a tip off, police spokesman Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said last week.

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 on September 22.

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

The three men are Zimbabweans.

Sanders was at the Thatch Haven Country Lodge, in Brits, 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.

Outside court members of the Oukasie SA National Civic Organisation protested.

“Our Constitution is failing us because criminals go free,” Michael Mhlongo said.

“They have taken our champion. We are sending our condolences to the Sanders family.”

He said the home affairs department had failed by letting foreigners into the country as they had no legal documents and therefore could not be traced if they committed crimes.

One man held up a poster which read: “They took Lucky Dube now it’s Corrie Sanders. Enough is enough with illegal foreigners. No bail.”

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. – Sapa