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Zurenah Smit, 54, is listed in connection with the murder of her husband, Stellenbosch wine producer Stefan Smit, in June 2019.
- Zurenah Smit and Derek Sait have been charged with theft and illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
- The additional charges come after two weapons are believed to have been stolen from Smit.‘s safes in 2018 were found following the arrest of the three suspects for their murder.
- One of these stolen weapons is believed to have been used to kill him on June 2, 2019.
Stellenbosch, the widow of wine producer Stefan Smit, Zurenah, and the former member of his security team, Derek Sait, were indicted on Friday shortly before their appearance for their murder with theft, as well as for illegal possession of weapons. and ammunition for allegedly stealing two of their firearms.
Although the details were not discussed during the proceedings in the Stellenbosch Magistrates Court, News24 reliably understands that the additional charges come after two weapons believed to have been stolen from Smit’s safe were found in 2018 after the arrest of the three suspects for the murder of the winegrower.
One is believed to have been used to kill him on June 2, 2019, although both were at the scene when armed suspects entered Louiesenhof through an open door while the Smits were having dinner with a friend.
Smit was shot and killed while the guest and Zurenah escaped unharmed during the apparent home burglary in which only two cell phones and a purse were stolen.
Sait, Damon, and Sait’s brother, Bradley van Eyslend, the head of security, had been on duty that night. None of them had reportedly heard the shots that night despite being in an adjacent room.
According to the State, a couple, who lived in a cabin about 15 meters from the main house, had heard the shots.
It was also said that there were no images of the alleged perpetrators entering the farm, despite the fact that several closed circuit television cameras are among the extensive security measures in place.
According to Sait, Smit knew there were many blind spots in his camera network.
Security equipment was employed by the couple after the 2018 occupation of Watergang, owned by the Smit family through a trust.
It was occupied by backwards from nearby Kayamandi who renamed it Azania. Following a ban request to remove them, the municipality finally bought the land from the owners for R45 710,000.
During questioning on Sait’s bail request on Friday, prosecutor Lecardo Davids told him that Damon, in a confession to police, said the two had fired the shots that killed Smit that night.
This version, Davids continued, was corroborated by a Section 204 witness.
He did not know the details of this confession, Sait replied, and although he had his suspicions, he did not want to speculate who he thought this witness might be.
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Sait denied the state’s version that Smit had been killed in the house as it would be “too complicated to take elsewhere”.
Davids also asked why a specific reference was made during his testimony that the police had not examined his hands for bullet residue that night, telling him that he and his accomplices had worn latex gloves during the crime and Sait had used his knowledge as a former police detective. this would be what the research team would be looking for.
The prosecutor also expressed concern that Sait, a registered private investigator, could track people on the state’s witness list. Sait, in turn, claimed that this would be of no use.
The state maintained that it had an “extremely strong case” against all three. According to Davids, Smit’s murder had been financially driven, with each of the defendants pledging R2 million and part of the farm.
Sait dismissed it as “a lot of Poland.”
The bail request continues on December 23.
