There is a new defence team for the accused in the Deokaran murder case after the defence attorney Shafoque Sarlie withdrew his service for not being paid.
This was heard at the Johannesburg High Court on October 6 when Phakamani Hadebe, Nhlangane Ndlovu, Sanele Mbhele, Siphakanyiswa Dladla, Zitha Radebe and Siphiwe Mazibuko appeared.
The case was postponed to November 18. They will now be represented by advocate Sibisi and advocate Mlothwa. Sibisi was at court with the instructing advocate Bongani Zulu, while Mlotshwa was absent due to other commitments.
State advocate Steven Rubin said this case has been in this court for almost four months to sort the legal representation of the accused. The new defence needs to provide an electronic device to copy the content of the document as it has about 2 000 pages.
The judge said while the accused will remain in custody, on November 18 the court wants to know exactly who will be representing who.
“Advocate Sibisi is on a joint venture and we need to know who he is representing. Also, he must provide an electronic device to copy the content of the document by October 14,” he said.
The six are also accused of the attempted murder of Deokaran’s domestic worker who was in the car with her at the time of the shooting.
Deokaran was returning from dropping off her child at school when she was shot. She was taken to hospital where she later succumbed to her injuries.
She was a key witness in the Special Investigative Unit’s probe into personal protective equipment corruption in the provincial health department.
