GIDEON Stassen (43) and his girlfriend Chantelle Justine Minnott (31) will wait another week to hear if they will be granted bail due to the investigating officer still being on leave.
The couple, accused of murdering Stassen’s 78-year-old mother, Annatjie, on November 16, made a very brief appearance in court on Tuesday morning.
The case was postponed because the investigating officer, Maj Jan Klynhans, was still on leave and would only be back at work on February 18.
The couple came up from the jail cells to the court to hear their fate.
Stassen emerged first from the stairway wearing an orange t-shirt, while the pint-sized Minnott wore a dark blue t-shirt with yellow decorations on the front and two yellow stripes on the edge of the sleeves. She tied her now longer brown hair up in a pony-tail.
They stood patiently to hear the outcome, which lasted less than three minutes.
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One of the defense lawyers, Charlie van Tonder, who recently stepped in to help with the case, requested a postponement because Klynhans would only be available after February 18.
He also asked Magistrate P Manyathi that if Klynhans was still not available by the next appearance, to allow one of the other three investigating officers to appear in his place.
“If Maj Klynhans is not available on that day, Your Worship, I’m going to request the court to order that someone from the investigating team attend the bail application,” Van Tonder said.
Van Tonder then approached his clients for a few seconds.
After a brief moment, Manyathi announced that the accused would be back in court on February 19 for their bail application.
