Pigsty farm murders: Accused trio reappear in court, case postponed again

The bail bid of the trio accused of killing two women and feeding them to pigs at Onverwacht farm, near Kotishing village in Makotopong, Limpopo, has yet again been postponed pending an appeal outcome.

The Limpopo farmer and his two workers, who are accused of killing two women and dumping their bodies in a pigsty, reappeared at the Polokwane Regional Court on Wednesday for a formal bail hearing.

Zachariah Olivier, Adriaan de Wet, and William Musoro face multiple charges, including two counts of premeditated murder, attempted murder, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, and defeating the ends of justice.

Musoro also faces an additional charge for contravening the Immigration Act.

In the interim, the accused will remain remanded in custody pending their bail applications.

Defence ‘held hostage’ by appeal

Defence attorney Muhammad Farouk Valjee, representing accused number two stepped up to offer legal aid to Musoro.

This was after Musoro’s previous lawyer retracted her services due to not having an order for the financial offering.

The defence argued that the pending appeal was derailing court proceedings.

This was because, during previous court proceedings, the state initially refused to hand over a statement given by the first accused, Olivier.

However, the court overruled this decision and ordered the state to provide the statement.

The state was granted an opportunity to appeal the decision, seeking to overturn the court’s decision.

“This appeal brought by the prosecution is suspending the whole process. [Bail applications] cannot move forward until the appeal has been finalised,” said advocate Jakobus Johannes Venter, representing Olivier.

Venter said the defence was held hostage and at bay pending the appeal’s finalisation.

Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Lethabo Mashiane representing the state contested presenting bail applications of the three accused concurrently.

He said the accused being charged under common purpose cannot be a bar for their applications to be simultaneous.

“We are told that it will have a detrimental effect if the appeal for number one is not resolved. But we are not being told how that detriment will come about,” said Mashiane.

ALSO READ: Limpopo pigsty murders: Bail hearing postponed after defence lawyer complains about his client’s statement

Bail application postponed

Magistrate Ntilane Felleng postponed the matter to 6 November to retrieve the appeal outcome for Olivier.

“The matter has been postponed because of the pending decision which is the subject matter of one of the factors relating to this bail application,” said Felleng.

The matter was referred back to Mankweng Magistrate’s Court for further investigations.

Felleng said a new date for the bail applications would be made available by the state and defence should any new information come about at the Mankweng court.

ALSO READ: Trio accused of feeding women to pigs reappear in court, case postponed again