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From right: Thabo Leshabane, Mbekezi Butheledzi, John Zulu, Sfiso Bhekinhlezo, and Emanuel Dlamini.
- The bail hearing of a man accused of ordering a murder against his businessman wife and her colleague has been postponed until Friday.
- This followed a disagreement between the defense and the State about why the investigating officer did not take the stand as a witness at one point.
- Thabo Stanley Leshabane is charged with murder with four co-defendants.
The bail hearing of a man accused of ordering a hit on his businesswoman and her colleague had to be postponed after a fierce disagreement between the state and a defense attorney in Polokwane Magistrates Court on Wednesday night.
READ | Bail hearing postponed for man accused of ordering murder of his wife
The disagreement arose when defense attorney John Mokgotho asked Petty Officer Gerhardus Kotze, an investigating officer, why he had not taken the stand as a witness on November 18.
Mokgotho insisted that the reason Kotze did not testify was because the state had indicated at the time that it “has nothing” against Thabo Stanley Leshabane, accused of ordering the coup.
This was vehemently denied by state attorney Chantelle Stevens, who said the reason was that a police psychologist had yet to complete the tests of all the psychologists before Kotze could take the stand as a witness.
But Mokgotho told Magistrate Janine Ungerer that the reason put forward by the state that day was recorded in court records.
Ungerer, who also pointed out that he did not remember that the State advanced such a reason, suspended the session so that the records could be found and played in court.
After more than an hour and a half of postponement, no records could be found for that particular day.
It was agreed to postpone the matter until Friday, December 11, 2020 for the recordings to be found. Leshabane, 57, is requesting bail along with four co-defendants: Mondo Buthelezi, 25, John Zulu, 30, Bhekimuzi Phiyose, 34, and Thembelani Dlamini, 30.
Earlier in court, the attorney for the four co-defendants, Whitey Moruleng, in his cross-examination of Kotze, tried to show the court that the defendants were not a flight risk.
However, Kotze indicated that almost all of them had no fixed assets.
It also indicated that defendant number three, Phiyose, used a different last name, Nxumalo.
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