Rameez Patel threatened to kill brother if he spoke about killing Fatima, court hears

The Polokwane High Court has heard that businessman Rameez Patel threatened his brother with death if he told anyone that he killed his wife, Fatima.

The trial, which has been postponed several times over the past nine years, resumed on Monday, with the state and defence delivering their closing arguments.

During proceedings on Monday, senior state prosecutor Lethabo Mashiane argued that the autopsy on Fatima found that she was still alive after she was hit on the head with a cricket bat, causing blunt-force trauma.

‘He threatened to kill me’

Mashiane said Fatima was then shot in the face at close range.

The advocate also shared the grim testimony of Rameez’s brother, who was allegedly threatened with death if he outed his brother, Netwerk24 reported.

“He threatened to kill me if I told anyone that he killed Fatima,” Razeen testified.

Razeen also testified that Rameez and Nasreen — to whom he is now married — were in a romantic relationship at the time of Fatima’s murder.

During Rameez’s previous court appearance in April, he told the court that he was in possession of a video clip in which Razeen confessed that he had lied in his testimony against him.

Verdict

Mashiane implored the court to find Rameez guilty of Fatima’s murder.

He argued there was no forced entry into the townhouse on the day of Fatima’s death, and nothing was stolen from the house.

A member of the Nirvana Community Policing Forum (CPF) and a police officer testified that Rameez was “calm and not hysterical at all” when they arrived at the scene.

Rameez himself testified that he found Fatima lying in a pool of blood in the living room of the house. He said he picked her up and held her against him.

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Rameez’s clothes

He said that he later went to an uncle’s house nearby to bathe and change into clean clothes so that he could attend the customary Muslim evening prayers.

Rameez has battled to explain to the High Court why he didn’t submit all the clothing he wore on the day of his wife’s killing, claiming that officers simply didn’t ask him to.

The National Prosecuting Authorities (NPA) said Rameez told the court that he did not give his jacket to the police because they did not ask for it.

“Patel [Rameez] could not explain to the court the movement of his clothes that he was wearing during the incident. His clothes were left at his uncle’s house, and he moved to his home and later got back to his uncle’s. The police were given the clothes without the jacket, and later, the police were given a white jacket.”

Application for recusal

Last year, Rameez attempted to have Judge Joseph Raulinga recused from his trial, citing alleged prejudice, including bail conditions and other applications.

However, his application was dismissed in September. Rameez then sought to appeal the judge’s decision in a different court, but his leave to appeal was dismissed in January in the same court.

Judge Raulinga ruled that no other court would likely reach a different conclusion, stating that he intends to see the matter through before his full retirement.

Since presiding over the case, Judge Raulinga has reported receiving death threats, a firearm threat, unauthorised access to his chambers, and a break-in at his home.

Murder

Rameez is on trial for the murder of his wife, Fatima, which took place in April 2015.

Fatima’s body was found in a pool of blood at their Nirvana home in Limpopo after they allegedly had a fight.

Police investigations revealed that Fatima was executed with a single shot to the head, while autopsy reports indicate that, at some point before her death, she was strangled and suffered blunt force trauma that dislocated her jaw, possibly caused by a baseball bat that was recovered from the ceiling of the apartment.

Family deaths

Rameez was also accused of killing his mother, Muhajeen, in front of her domestic worker. This case was provisionally withdrawn in 2021 due to a lack of evidence.

Rameez’s father, Firoz, was killed in an unsolved robbery, while Yunus Mayet, the father of his current wife, Nasreen, was kidnapped and murdered.

In 2018, his brother Razeen was shot days before he was due to testify against Rameez.

Rameez was released on bail in 2015 after being granted R250,000 bail at the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court.

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