Mossel Bay man’s murder: 3rd accused granted bail

Aubrey-Junior Nickleo Mentoor (19), one of three men who are the accused in the murder of Mossel Bay Extension 13’s Chivago Leigh Fillies (31), was granted bail of R2 000 yesterday.

His two co-accused, Jemandry Braaff (20) and Ushere Apdol (19), were granted bail of R2 000 each in the Mossel Bay Magistrate’s Court last Thursday.

All three men appeared in court yesterday, for Mentoor’s bail application, and the matter was postponed to September 17 for further investigation.

Fillies died in hospital on June 30, following an attack in the early hours of June 29.

The investigating officer for the case, Warrant Officer Adéle Malherbe, testified at the bail application of Braaff and Apdol last Thursday that according to witnesses, Fillies had been attacked by Mentoor, Braaff, Apdol and a fourth, unknown, suspect.

Malherbe said the attack took place following an incident earlier that morning when Mentoor and Braaff had been walking back from a local club with Fillies and a group of his friends.

Malherbe said in her testimony that Braaff had allegedly started beating Fillies and a friend of Fillies broke up the fight by hitting Braaff over the head with a golf club.

Malherbe said Mentoor helped Braaff back to his home in Mountain View, where they met Apdol and the fourth suspect. They went back and found Fillies and his friends. The friends fled and Fillies was attacked just after he helped a friend jump over a wall to escape.

Malherbe added that the investigation of the case would possibly take a long time, noting that the fourth suspect must be arrested, photos and exhibits had to still be looked at by the police, more statements had to be taken and the Local Criminal Record Centre still had to conduct testing of evidence.