THE five accused linked with burning and killing seven people in a mob attack in Diepsloot, north of Joburg, earlier this month, will spend Christmas in prison.
This comes after the Randburg Magistrates Court on Wednesday, 20 December, postponed their bail application judgment to Thursday, 28 December.
On 1 December night, residents in Diepsloot cornered people they believed were committing crimes and terrorizing the community.
Some escaped, but the incident left seven dead by 2am, 2 December.
This led to the five accused being arrested two days later.
The group is facing charges of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, grievous bodily harm, and contravention of the immigration act.
On Wednesday, their defence argued for their release.
Legal representative for accused one, two and five, Jimmy Baloyi, said justice won't be served by keeping the accused in prison based on allegations because witnesses haven't appeared in court.
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“Applicants one, two and five swore under oath that they were nowhere near the incident, Investigating Officer, Albert Jamjam could not confirm the whereabouts of the accused in the day of the incident,” he said.
He spoke at great length about how they were low flight risk.
The matter was postponed to next week, with community members who packed the courtroom reacted loudly in disappointment.
The accused in the dock were also left in despair, bending their heads down and shocked upon hearing the news.
Baloyi said they were disappointed about the outcome.
“We are very disappointed. We were hoping that today's judgment would be delivered, and we'd be able to take our people home. Unfortunately, given the circumstances that the court put forward at this there isn't enough time for the court to deliver judgment.”
He said he was hoping that Friday was at the latest day.
“We would get a judgment but then the matter was postponed. At some point, the court wanted to postpone it to January, so the 28th of December is better. Unfortunately, that's how the justice system in South Africa works.”
Lawyer for accused three and four, Joseph Dikotla, said they were being kept in prison based on hearsay.
“The State rest on one pillar and one pillar only that is one witness Jamjam flatly refused to tell the court if the state has more than one witness,” he said.
“We are not sure if the state has witnesses, we only rely on the hearsay.”
Dikotla said the community in court showed they were against their arrest.
“The community support shows they may be welcome in the community.”
He said there was no evidence they were going to interfere with witnesses.
Community leader Loyiso Toyiya was still hopeful they would get bail.
“We believe they will get bail based on arguments of the advocate there, who were arguing that this people are not flight risk, and they are responsible people who will not run away, remember bail is not a trial,” Toyiya said.
He said they were going to comfort the families of the accused as they wouldn't be able to spend Christmas with them.
“We are comforting them that on 1 January they will be with them. We are very disappointed. December is a time where every family member would want to be with their families.”
