Amy’Leigh: Bail application postponed
Suspect who snatched Amy'Leigh still at large, court hears.
The three suspects accused of kidnapping Amy’Leigh de Jager will have to stay behind bars until 1 October, after the bail application proceedings were postponed.
The three face charges of kidnapping and extortion.
Tharina Human, Leatitia Nel and Pieter van Zyl were arrested shortly after the little girl was found safe in the morning hours of 3 September, about 24 hours after she was allegedly kidnapped.
Amy’Leigh was snatched from her mother, Angeline, while she was dropping her two children at the Kollegepark Primary School. Amy Leigh was pushed into a white Toyota Fortuner.
Not long after, Amy Leigh’s father, Wynand received a call from an unknown man demanding a ransom of R2-million.
Testifying in the bail application in the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s court Constable Clayton Motloung said there was still one more suspect at large said to be Van Zyl’s gardener.
Motloung was the first state witness in the bail application.
The accused defence finished their arguments this morning as to why they should be released out on bail but was strongly opposed by the state.
Magistrate Hussein Khota also examined Motloung to get clarity on a few points.
Khota asked about the outstanding suspect Motloung referred to in yesterday’s proceedings.
The suspect lived with Van Zyl and fled when police arrived at the property on 4 September, to arrest him.
Motloung said police chased the suspect for over an hour but he evaded arrest.
He was also the suspect who allegedly grabbed Amy’Leigh from her mother’s arms in front of the school.
Motloung further told the court Amy’Leigh told police “everything”.
At the end of the proceedings the defence of Human and Nel submitted another application to the court to move the women from the Johannesburg prison to a police holding cell.
Both advocates respectively read Human’s and Nel’ s statement regarding the threats they have been receiving in prison.
In the statements Human and Nel claimed that due to the case being widely reported on in the media, they were being targeted by other inmates at the prison.
They claimed they feared for their lives where they were being kept in a cell with 70 other women awaiting trial.
The application was dismissed by the magistrate.
The hearing was postponed to 1 October, for the formal bail application proceedings.
The suspects will be kept in custody until then.
READ MORE: Amy Leigh: ‘She’s never been the same again’
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