NELSPRUIT – The man who was found guilty of being the mastermind behind a hand-grenade attack is appealing on the grounds that he has new evidence in the case. Yegen Naidoo (44) appeared in the Nelspruit High Court on Monday.
His defence advocate Mr Michael Hellens requested leave to appeal from Judge Ronel Tolmay.
Tolmay had previously found Negen guilty of conspiring to commit murder and the murder of Ms Patricia Pillay (53) and her granddaughter, Yetska (9).
Naidoo had ordered the hit on them, in a hand-grenade attack at their Valencia home two days before Christmas in 2006.
Tolmay sentenced him on two counts of murder, a life sentence for each. For two attempted murder counts, eight years each and for possession of illegal explosives, seven years and for conspiring to commit murder, seven years.
Mohamed Ismail Khan (43), who is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement, had previously testified against Naidoo in the trial.
Naidoo had conspired with Mohamed and Zamud Amid Khan (54), who is also serving a life sentence for the bombing.
Both the Khans were sentenced in 2010.
On June 7, 2011 Naidoo was tracked down and arrested by the police’s organised crime unit in Durban after a manhunt lasting two years. He had believed the Pillays were harbouring Amid’s girlfriend, who had run away from him.
During the appeal, Hellens stated that Khan had stated in his testimony that Naidoo had given him the money for the hit after the incident at a Christmas party. He said this was false as they now had proof that the party was held three days before the hit.
He also claimed that Sydney Pandaram lied in his testimony about Khan phoning to speak to his father which led to his arrest as his father had died two years before the call.
Hellens also stated that they had found that when they requested a manifesto from SAA airlink for a flight concerning Pandaram and three members of the Cato Manor squad, they had received a forged manifesto.
Tolmay requested that SAP investigate the origin of the forged document.
Read an earlier article here.
