The state wants to revisit a previous case in which a Brooklyn man accused of killing his wife was implicated.
Prem Badeo was previously acquitted of murdering his first wife Neetha, after she was found dead in a shipping container in which they lived while their house was being refurbished.
He is now facing charges of murder for the alleged killing of his current wife, Dawn, who went missing on Thursday, 8 June after she left home never returned.
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Her vehicle was later recovered in Soweto.
On Thursday in the Pretoria magistrate’s court prosecutor Sipho Letswalo said the state would seek to draw parallels on the modus operandi used for both cases.
Even though Basdeo had been acquitted of Neetha’s murder in 2004, Letswalo said it was important for the state to explore the possibility of the similarities that may arise.
Basdeo’s lawyer Piet Pistorius however argued that his client stood as an innocent man before the court as he had not been found guilty on a previous murder case.
“My client appears before this court as an innocent man. It is completely unnecessary to bring that case into this current case as he was acquitted for it,” said Pistorius.
Letswalo, however, said the intention would not be to hold Basdeo accountable for the previous murder, but to test the similarities of the circumstances.
“We will just be referring to it as it happened under the same circumstances as the murder case at hand.”
Pistorius highlighted his client’s intention to apply for bail but was being halted by the state.
He accused the state of delaying the bail process which would see his client suffering less abuse at the hands of police officials.
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Pistorius said his client had suffered emotional and physical trauma while in custody while investigations into the current murder went on. “He was subjected to unfair treatment ever since his arrest on last Thursday.
“It is unnecessary for this process to be delayed any longer,” he said.
The case was postponed to Tuesday, 26 June for formal bail application.
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