Suspect in pub brawl murder case appears in court
The case has been postponed to Wednesday, September 13.
The man accused of murdering 21-year-old Celvin Seabourne appeared in the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Monday.
Gerhard van der Merwe is being accused of killing Seabourne during an altercation outside of a pub in Bergsig in the Moot last Saturday.
Van der Merwe’s bail application was denied and the case was postponed until Wednesday, September 13.
Seaborne was fatally assaulted while attempting to intervene in a brawl in the early hours on Saturday morning.
According to police, the incident occurred at a BP garage at 04:50.
Seabourne was accompanied by his girlfriend. As the night took a grim turn, a fight erupted on the streets nearby.
In a heroic but ultimately tragic act, Seabourne rushed towards the altercation to defuse the situation. However, he soon became the target of the assailant’s violence.
The attacker’s blows left Seabourne incapacitated, and despite the paramedics’ prompt arrival, they were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
His mother, Charlotte, attended the court proceedings on Monday.
She told Rekord that on her way home from court on Monday, she had to stop at the morgue to identify her son’s body.
She has disputed the account shared by police.
Seabourne’s funeral will take place on Friday, September 15 at 13:00 at the Koinonia Christian Centre on Van der Hoff Road in Pretoria Gardens.
