Two men accused of killing Bronkhorstspruit magistrate Victor Mabunda will appeal their bail ruling on Thursday.
Thomo Ngoato and Paulos Fourie appeared in the North Gauteng High Court on Monday on charges of murder.
They are accused of shooting and killing Mabunda in the driveway of his home more than a year ago.
In June last year, the men were denied bail by magistrate Adrian Bekker, who said there were no exceptional circumstances that warranted that they be released on bail.
ALSO READ: UPDATE: First anniversary of the death of Bronkhorstspruit magistrate
He said the crime the pair was accused of was serious and could see them facing life imprisonment if found guilty.
Prosecutor advocate Annalie Coetzee said the duo planned to approach the high court to have the ruling overturned.
Coetzee said the State would oppose the move.
She said the State had enough evidence and was ready to prosecute the men, but the trial was delayed.
“There was a change of legal representatives by the accused, which led to the trial being postponed,” she said.
“The trial also had to be given enough time to avoid many postponements as it will run over a period of three weeks.”
The third accused, Thato Maringa, did not apply for bail as he was implicated in seven other cases, including that of armed robbery and murder in Modemolle, Limpopo.
“So there would be no purpose for him to even consider bail,’ said Coetzee.
The spokesperson of the family of the slain law man, Chris Mabunda, said the family was going through a stressful time.
“The uncertainty about how things will pan out is creating a lot of stress for us,” he said.
“We can only hope.”
Mabunda said even the family was nervous, they had faith that justice would prevail.
Before his murder, the late magistrate was expected to hand down judgment in a case in which Ngoato was accused of smuggling drugs into the Baviaanspoort prison.
The State believed that the Ngoato orchestrated the murder for fear the magistrate would find him guilty.
The police were still searching for the fourth suspect, said to be Solly Sifiso Ngobeni (48) of Soweto, Johannesburg.
The police believed Ngobeni was also known as Solly Dlamini, alias Dinga.
The trial has been set for 7 to 25 October.
ALSO READ: UPDATE: Bronkhorstspruit magistrate murder trial postponed
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