Petition filed for no bail in Patience murder
A 21-page document with signatures from the local community who opposed bail, was presented to the presiding officers.
POLOKWANE – The 22-page petition filled with signatures of Westenburg residents in support of the call for justice in the murder case of family man Fabian Patience (44) in January was handed to the case prosecutor by community leaders on Monday.
The deceased was a breadwinner, father of four and a husband among others, his sister Senobia Louw said.
The three men accused of the murder of Patience on January 19 appeared before the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court for formal bail application, while community representatives outside said it was important to hand over the documents to court officers to maximise pressure in ensuring that the suspects are denied bail and in the long run convicted accurately.
Based on information revealed in court, Jan Maboka, Simon Mahlare and Sello Ephraim Matsebadi targeted Patience between the Nirvana and central business district offramp, stabbed him and left with his cellphone, which the state has kept as evidence.
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This is along with the instrument used to commit the schedule six offence while investigations such as the collection of witness statements and post-mortem results continue.
But after a short adjournment from the sitting, the accused’s legal counsel requested that the request for bail be abandoned based on his latest briefing from the three, as a result of the seriousness of the offence. They remain in custody.
While so, the state had already been opposing bail with the view that the three had worked on a deliberate and common purpose to commit the crime. It was also revealed that accused 1, Mahlare and Matsebadi are previous convicts in robbery cases. The three will appear before the same magistrate on April 17.
