Westbury shooting – accused faces 18 charges
SOPHIATOWN - Protestors prayed outside the Sophiatown Magistrates' Court as Luke Tibbetts' alleged murderer and Keenan Mokwena, his co-accused appeared inside.
The man accused of killing toddler Luke Tibbetts in a drive-by shooting in Westbury appeared in the Sophiatown Magistrates’ Court on 12 August.
Dressed in a light blue hoodie and jeans, the accused rested his arms on the bench and gazed at the packed courtroom impassively.
The accused is facing 18 criminal charges in total – including charges of attempted murder, murder, illegal possession of a firearm, illegal possession of ammunition and pointing a firearm. He has three other cases pending in the Johannesburg High Court.
Prosecuter Danie van Wyk said the State was opposed to bail, and recommended that the accused be transferred to Johannesburg Prison.
The accused’s defence lawyer Rowen Meth had reservations about his client in the famed ‘Sun City’. Allegedly, the suspect has been threatened by another person in this prison, in a case unrelated to the Tibbetts shooting.
“We’ll deal with the question of a transfer to prison and possibly to the Johannesburg High Court on 29 August,” Magistrate Koos Pretorius said.
The bail hearing was postponed to this date, and the accused will remain in custody until then.
In the neighbouring District Court fellow accused Keenan Mokwena faced the charge of ‘pointing of a firearm’ an hour later.
Magistrate Elmarie Engelbrecht postponed Mokwena’s bail hearing to 18 August to allow the State to obtain further evidence.
“We need more time to obtain certain dockets and present them to the court,” Investigating Officer Sergeant Diedelof Fourie said during his testimony. Fourie said various cases, including housebreaking, car theft, and robbery had been opened against Mokwena.
Mokwena and deceased Luke Tibbetts(3) were both shot in Westbury on 2 August. Mokwena was shot in the arm, treated and discharged from hospital. Tibbetts struggled on life support for a week before dying in hospital on 8 August. Mokwena has claimed that he was the intended target of the shooting.
Outside the court, members of the Westbury community and the VPSA (Voice of the People South Africa) were protesting and praying, declaiming the senseless violence that took the toddler’s life.
“Enough is enough!” they cried.
“No more violence!”
