Family of Van Riebeeck Park man who died after home invasion laments court delays

The case against the man accused of killing a Kempton Park resident, Syd Syrett, was postponed to November 16.

The accused appeared in court on Monday. This is the second postponement in court proceedings in less than a month.

During a previous sitting of the case on October 19, they cited a broken copy machine as the reason for a postponement in the trial heard in the Kempton Park Magistrate Court.

Syrett died in hospital on July 11 last year, following an alleged house robbery in his Van Riebeeck Park home on July 6.

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Five suspects who entered the house allegedly overpowered Syrett and assaulted him.

According to his daughter Claire Syrett, the constant postponement has taken a toll on the family.

Following Syrett’s death, the police arrested one person for being in possession of property stolen during the house robbery.

In September last year, the man accused of Syrett’s murder got bail of R5 000 bail. When bail was granted, the Magistrate said that having stolen property does not automatically equate to murder because they needed forensic proof from the SAPS.

The suspect had to present himself to the Orlando Police Station every Friday.

The court on October 17, 2022, postponed the case for DNA and 205 reports.

“The case file was missing, which prevented the case from being on the court roll,”said Claire.

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She added the forensics performed on the cell phones to track movements they documented in the 205 reports.

“The case number on December 9, 2022, was mixed up with another murder case, so it had to be fixed on the court roll.

Claire added the official court interpreter was also not present and another member of the administrative team translated for the accused.

“When the court asked the accused where his lawyer was, he said he could not afford to pay his lawyer. They

postponed the case pending DNA, the 205 evidence and to give the accused time to get legal aid.”

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The accused failed to report to his designated police station in December.

She said on February 6 this year, they adjourned the court to once again locate the case file.

“The case was also not listed on the court roll.”

The case was postponed yet again in April, pending 205 reports and missing DNA evidence.

The accused was taken from court for DNA to be collected on May 22.

At the time the court questioned why the case had been postponed for 10 months, pending DNA evidence when the DNA had never been collected.

“Nobody could answer the question and the case was then postponed again pending DNA evidence and 205 reports.”

The case was postponed on June 29 for a sixth consecutive time, pending the DNA and 205 reports.

Claire told the Kempton Express that on August 2, the investigating officer submitted the docket for final postponement and they set October 5 for trial to begin.

“When the date arrived, the case file was again missing, and they did not place the case on the roll.

“The court kept adjourning the matter during the day because they had not printed their documents for review of the evidence.”

She added the matter was eventually called and postponed for final disclosure on October 19.

On this day, the copier at the court was not working, which resulted in yet another postponement of the case.

“With all the court case postponements over the same thing, this journey has been incredibly distressing myself and my family,” said Claire.

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“We face the accused every time we attend court and as he is out on bail. He sits beside us until called to the stand.”

“Although the police keep telling us we don’t have to be there, they do not provide proper updates on what is happening with our case, so we have no other choice but to go,” she added.

Claire said that being told they could not proceed to disclosure on October 19 because the copier was not functioning was ludicrous.

“I am undergoing treatment for PTSD and it is apparent that the continued lack of due care by both SAPS and the magistrate’s court are exacerbating my symptoms.”

“Added to this, it has forced us to use most of our annual leave to attend these court dates without any imminent conclusion in sight.”

“My dad was the most amazing man and while this case continues to be arbitrarily postponed, we cannot properly grieve our loss,” she said.