The case of the man who was found alive after he was declared dead on 15 December 2015 was centralised with the Krugersdorp triple murder case on Monday, 3 October.
During a brief court hearing, five accused persons appeared in the regional court at the Krugersdorp Magistrates’ Court. One of the accused was charged with committing fraud after faking his own death in the Free State last year, while the other four appeared briefly in connection with the recent murders of three Krugersdorpers. The accused were all dressed in black and entered the courtroom in single file.
Since the State has now requested that the two cases be centralised, the process will be handled by the National Director of Public Prosecutions in the future.
Both hearings were postponed to give the Public Prosecutor time to finalise the centralisation. All parties agreed on the postponement and centralisation of the cases.
A further reason given for the postponement was to wait for the results of new DNA tests which had not yet been completed. Further investigation of the accused is also still in progress.
All five accused in the newly centralised case will appear in court again on 7 November. The court in which they will appear is yet to be finalised.
Meanwhile, the accused who faked his own death applied for bail. He will appear in court on 17 October for his bail hearing.
One of the attorneys requested a short adjournment in order for two of the accused to be assisted back to their cells, as they seemed to be dealing with health issues. Their medical state was not made public and the fact of their health issues was based on an observation – one of the accused had oxygen tubes in her nose.
Throughout the proceedings, during which the two cases were centralised and postponed, all the accused persons looked attentively at Magistrate Page.
Four of the accused will remain in police custody while the fifth will be in hospital under the supervision of police until their next appearance.
Once the court was adjourned, the accused made their way down the stairs into the holding cells. As the last accused was making his way down, he looked into the crowd of attendees, smiled, winked and continued.
The mother of Kevin Mc Alpine, one of the victims who lost his life during the series of murders in Krugersdorp in May this year, sat in the front row of the attendees section, looking down as the last accused passed her.
Read more:
Victim points out stolen property
Update: Steyn siblings laugh in court
Husband arrested: blood on his hands
Hit-and-run suspect hands himself over
