Ditebogo Phalane's alleged killer denied bail
Bail has been denied to one of three men accused of killing five-year-old Ditebogo Phalane in Soshanguve, near Pretoria, last year.
Elia Maeko failed in this latest bid to convince the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court to release him on bail, after previously abandoning his application.
Maeko, Ali Sithole, and Nido Gumbe face schedule six charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances after Phalane was shot and killed outside his family's Soshanguve home while his father was being hijacked in May 2024.
READ: Ditebogo Phalane’s ‘inconsolable’ family ‘comforted’ by swift arrests
In his application, Maeko told the court that he is the breadwinner for his family, and needs to care for his ailing mother and young children.
Magistrate Nasneem Khan read out the investigating officer's report, after he interviewed Maeko's mother, in which the elderly woman denied any dependency on the accused.
"She told Sergeant Sibasa that if she needed anyone's assistance, she would ask her deceased son's friend, who had, on various occasions, assisted her. [She said] the clinic was not far from her house. In fact, it is a walking distance, and she didn't need anyone to assist. If she did not need anyone to assist, she would ask someone from Limpopo."
Khan said Maeko had failed to demonstrate exceptional circumstances that would warrant his release, as the court had also established that he was not the primary provider for the minor children he claimed to care for.
"The court finds that the applicant failed to discharge the onus that rests on him of establishing, on a balance of probabilities, that exceptional circumstances exist which warrant his release on bail. Bail is denied; the applicant will remain in custody."
The matter has been postponed until 10 September for the state to serve the accused with an indictment at the next appearance.
All three accused remain in custody.
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