Mams student murder case postponed to next week
Mamelodi magistrate’s court senior prosecutor Advocate Anne-Marie Bendeman says the case is postponed to January 25 for a formal bail application and the accused will remain in police custody.
The case against the three men charged for the robbery and murder of a Mamelodi student has been postponed to January 25.
The three briefly appeared in the Mamelodi magistrate’s court on Wednesday morning on charges of aggravated robbery and murder on Monday.
The suspects aged 18, 21 and 22 were arrested by members of a local taxi association after they fatally stabbed the student on his way home from Gauteng community and education college to rob him of his cellphone.
College principal Clifford Wee said the learning institution strongly opposed bail.
“We are really sorry about the incident and it has affected everyone… staff and students fear for their lives,” said Wee.
He said the college had previously reported incidents of robbery of staff and students so the community and the police needed to do something to improve their safety, especially around the school.
Freddy Bilankulu of 4+1 taxi association said students at Reneilwe had been complaining about a group that was “terrorising and robbing them of their belongings” from last year.
He said after the murder of the 18-year-old, the community came together to search for the suspects and within hours it had arrested the accused.
He said the student was found dead by one of the drivers who then raised the alarm.
Bilankulu said drugs were killing “our society” and the government needs to start acting against this drug problem that is destroying “our peaceful communities”.
Student, Karabo Khalo said the deceased was in his class though he did not know much about him because the college had only been open for a week when the incident happened but he appeared a cool guy.
He said Monday’s murder has struck fear in the student community.
“We want justice for our fellow student, and the drug addicts and drug lords destroying our community need to be permanently removed from our peaceful society,” said Khalo.
He pleaded with the police and other law enforcement to improve the safety in the community by deploying more police on the ground.
Mamelodi magistrate’s court senior prosecutor Advocate Anne-Marie Bendeman said the case was postponed to January 25 for a formal bail application and the accused would remain in police custody.
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