Durban — Four of the eight accused who face charges in relation to the theft of Telkom, eThekwini, and Transnet copper cables estimated at R3 million were to appeal against their denial of bail.
The four Malawians also face charges of being in contravention of the Immigration Act where the State has had Home Affairs verify that they are in the country illegally.
This emerged on Friday in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court where the eight appeared. The case was adjourned to December for further investigation.
The other four – Craig Chetty, Dinesh Harilall, Thembinkosi Mnyandu and Sibusiso Ngeneko – are out on bail of R4 000 each.
This was despite the State recommending a bail amount of R50 000 for the accused with the rationale that in a similar matter the Pinetown Court had granted R100 000 bail to the accused.
In court on Friday Minoj Harripersad, the defence for all eight accused, indicated that he would be appealing against the bail for husband and wife Amadu Juma and Liya Nyirongo, as well as Abdula Juma and his wife, Lesungu Mtola.
The court said that since the magistrate who had dealt with the bail application was not from the district and had since left, the defence would have to go through the relevant channels to have the appeal heard.
Harripersad did not detail any further grounds for wanting to appeal denying bail to the two couples.
The State said that since the eight last appeared a lot had been done in terms of investigations including identification statements that had been filed.
“The 205 statement is still outstanding … a statement from the owner of the premises is outstanding. The State is asking for an adjournment to finalise the 205.”
The State had been opposed to bail for Juma and his wife, as well as Abdula Juma and his wife, Lesungu Mtola. Before their bail application the State had said that Home Affairs had verified that they were in the country illegally.
It is alleged that on September 7 eight suspects were apprehended at 3am by authorities at a business area where copper estimated to be worth R3m was found, as well as a granulator and other tools specifically used to steal copper.
In their bid for bail Chetty and Harilall alleged that they had been at the property to inspect a vehicle that they had been mandated to fix by the owner, adding that they had been there two days earlier inspecting the vehicle and found it needed spares.
They further alleged that they had returned there after having found second-hand spares for the Ford Ranger.
On the first occasion when the eight appeared in court Nyirongo had her baby (two months) strapped to her chest and on the next, she walked in with the baby on her back and held the infant in her arms after sitting and during proceedings the court orderly took the baby out of the courtroom when it began crying.
On Friday Nyirongo walked with the baby’s blanket tied around her body while Mtola carried the baby, when they stepped into the dock the court orderly took the baby holding it till the brief appearance was finalised.
Daily News