#TripleMurder accuseds’ pre-trial date set

The five will remain in custody and their pre-trial starts in May in the High Court.

The accused from left Zak Valentine, Cecilia, Marinda, Leroux and Marcel Steyn in court. Photo: Bianca Pindral.

The #TripleMurder case, involving the accused Marcel, Cecilia, Marinda and Leroux Steyn and the Zak Valentine fraud case have been centralised and moved for trial to the Palm Ridge High Court.

The five stand accused on seven counts of murder. Their victims were Peter and Joan Meyer, Jarred Jackson, Glen McGregor, Anthony Scholefield, Kevin McAlpine and Hanle Lategan.

The accused appeared in the Krugersdorp Magistrates’ Court today, where they heard that their pre-trial will commence on 5 May in the High Court. Together with the murder charges, they also face charges of robbery with aggravated assault, being in possession of an unlicensed firearm, committing fraud and identity theft.

The five accused from the left: Zak Valentine, and Cecilia, Marinda, Le Roux, and Marcel Steyn stood in front of Magistrate Page in the Krugersdorp Magistrates court on Friday, 27 January to set a date for their pre-trial hearing. The hearing will take place in the Palm Ridge High Court, Johannesburg on 5 May.

No bail has been granted to any of the accused. A visibly upset Marinda claims her visitation rights have been taken away, which means she also does not have access to luxuries such as toilet paper.

All the accused have requested their own separate legal representatives.

The investigating officer told the News that Marinda’s visitation rights were cancelled because her only visitor, Dries Steyn (who is Cecilia’s husband), had carried messages between the various accused persons.

In December, the sixth accused, John Barnard, shocked everyone when he signed a plea bargain with the State and turned State witness.

He was sentenced to an effective 20 years, concurrently.