12 murder accused SANDF members granted R10k bail
Twelve members of the South African National Defence Force, charged with the murder of Hawks senior officer Frans Mathipa and two others, have been granted bail by the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.
The group made their third appearance on Friday morning following their arrest last month.
Two officers were arrested at separate locations, while 10 others handed themselves to authorities.
READ: 12 SANDF members arrested for Hawks investigator’s murder
They face three counts of murder related to the 2023 assassination of Mathipa, and the alleged abduction and murder of an alleged Islamic State (ISIS) leader from the Mall of Africa in Midrand in 2022.
Abdella Abadiga and his right-hand man, Kadir Abotese, were last seen in December 2022.
At their previous appearance, most of the suspects said they could afford bail of R5,000; however, the court set the bail quantum at R10,000 for each of the accused.
The state had opposed bail.
“As the prosecutor has indicated [in court], as the National Prosecuting Authority, we have an appetite to appeal the court’s decision to release them on bail,” said NPA spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane.
Speaking to the SABC outside court, Mjonondwane dismissed the accused’s claims that the state’s case is weak.
“We’re not yet at the trial stage where we have to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt. The proceedings before the court were on a balance of probabilities.”
At the group’s previous appearance, Mjonondwane said the state was not yet able to disclose how it arrived at murder charges against 11 out of 12 accused in the case of the two missing ISIS-linked Ethiopian nationals.
In their bail statements, the accused denied knowing Abediga, further claiming that he was known to “disappear” and fake his death.
Abadiga and Abotese’s bodies were never found.
READ MORE: State will rely on Rasuge case for Abadiga murder charge
“Part of the information that we submitted was to dismiss their allegations about the person that they allegedly killed; about him changing from one place to another, and also changing identity. We dismissed that there was no supporting evidence to support what they were saying,” Mjonondwane explained.
“As the NPA, we have submitted a comprehensive affidavit stating how each accused is linked. We have a case to that effect, as well as corroborating evidence to support the charges regarding those two that they allegedly kidnapped at Mall of Africa – whose whereabouts we don’t know as the state, and we can only come to the conclusion that they were allegedly killed.”
The matter returns to court on Thursday.
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