POLOKWANE – In the meantime, his legal representative, Adv Johann Engelbrecht SC, has indicated his intent to bring an application to have Patel’s case discharged.
Engelbrecht last week objected to a witness’s evidence as being hearsay.
This has been rejected and ruled to be “not hearsay” by Judge Joseph Raulinga.
Engelbrect however said there were some other issues he wanted to acquaint himself with and asked for a copy of the transcriptions of the state and the judge to see if these copies concur with each other.
Read more: “Rameez told me that he killed Fati” – Brother of accused testifies
Raulinga ordered the clerk to ready the transcriptions and compare them to see if they are all identical.
Engelbrecht pointed out his transcription on six or seven pages has shown that there were some discrepancies as to the way witnesses took the oath or in some cases did not take the oath at all. He wants to make further submissions said all witnesses, whether oral or verbal, should be sworn in according to law.
The trial was postponed to 21 to 25 January, when the state and Engelbrecht will bring submissions as to the witnesses’ testimonies and the issue of being sworn in and how.
A friend of Razeen Patel, Rameez’s brother, took the stand last Thursday and testified about how Razeen asked him for a favour. The friend was asked to accompany Razeen when he delivered a box to Rameez’s then girlfriend, now wife, Nazreen Mayet.
Read more: Rameez Patel to next appear for his mother’s murder in 2019
According to the friend, whom the judge ordered not to be identified, he was dropped off at a fast food facility in Flora Park so Nazreen would not know he had accompanied Razeen.
The friend testified that he waited 20 minutes for Razeen to come back and pick him up again. He said the box was given to Nazreen. Asked if he knew what was inside the box, he testified that he did see what was inside the box: shoes, clothes and a gun.
In the meantime, it has been confirmed that Rameez Patel is to apply once more for bail in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court where he stands accused on the murder of his mother, Mahjebeen Patel, last year. Patel has already been granted bail of R250 000 for his wife, Fatima’s murder.
He however, has not been granted bail for the murder of his mother and is still being detained for this murder.
He appealed earlier this year in the Magistrate’s Court against the refusal to grant him bail, but this was rejected. He now applied for bail again, based on new evidence.
The date when he is to present his case for the new bail hearing is yet to be confirmed.
