POLOKWANE – Thipe, applied for his discharge in the Polokwane High Court earlier this year.
The discharge application was lodged on the grounds that some witnesses were not properly sworn in, in terms of prescripts of the Criminal Procedure Act.
Prosecutor Advocate, Lethabo Mashiane described the defence team’s application for Rameez’s discharge as “opportunistic” and “misleading”.
Read more: Another failed application in Patel case
Raulinga ruled against the application. The defence sought Patel’s discharge based on Section 174 of the Criminal Procedures Act. Raulinga said a prima facie case against Patel, accused of killing his wife Fatima, had been established and even if the evidence of those witnesses was excluded, a prima facie case has already been established.
Engelbrecht, SC, indicated to Raulinga that the defence team would need the transcript of the ruling to ponder their next move and on Tuesday, Thipe indicated that they would appeal the judgment. In an interview with Review following the case being postponed provisionally to 2 April, he said that, depending on what the outcomes of their application for appeal would be, a further appeal to either the Supreme Court of Appeal or the Constitutional Court may be lodged.
While Raulinga during the previous court appearance made it clear that the ruling could not be appealed, he did agree that the transcript would be made available. In terms of the law, an application brought under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act cannot be appealed because it does not determine the finality of the case.
Read more: Patel wife’s murder case postponed to 2019
Patel told Review that there are more than enough grounds for the exceptional appeal and they believed it could be successful.
Rameez Patel’s first wife, Fatima, was murdered brutally in April 2015 at the couple’s home in Nirvana.
He was granted bail of R250 000 in this case. Patel has in the meantime also been apprehended on charges of murdering his mother, Mahejeen Banu Patel in September 2017, just more than a year after the murder of his father, Feroz. Nobody has yet been arrested for this murder. Patel was remanded in custody for the murder of his mother and is still in jail while the cases against him continue.
He will again petition for bail in the Magistrate’s Court next month.
Read more: Rameez Patel charged with his mom’s murder
An attempt was also made on the life of Patel’s younger brother, Razeen in July 2018.
He fled to England when discharged from hospital, to return later the year to testify against his brother, claiming Rameez told him he murdered his wife.
