The Barberton Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga has granted R3000 bail to the former African National Congress (ANC) councillor accused of murder. Lifa Nkosi was arrested last month, following the murder of an off-duty police officer and a friend in Barberton.
Handing down the bail judgment, Magistrate Leonard Ngcangca revealed that more suspects are yet to be arrested in this case.
The Magistrate says the former councillor, Lifa Nkosi is facing a schedule six offence. He also says the court is aware of his pending intimidation case. However, Magistrate Ngcanca believes that there are exceptional circumstances permitting him to be released on bail.
Nkosi was granted bail with a condition that he reports to a local police station once a week. He was also ordered to hand over his passport to the investigating officer.
“It is in the interest of justice and exceptional circumstances do exist to have the accused released on bail. And the nature of the offence is a well know aspect that if you call of a long postponement for the investigation to reach its finality since there are other suspects apparently which must be added. The case is postponed until the 25th of February next year for further investigation,” says the Magistrate.
The defence is happy with the bail application outcome. Nkosi’s lawyer, Mduduzi Madonsela says his client is innocent and will be acquitted in this case.
“We attacked the state case on the basis that it is weak. There is no case at the moment which if they can prosecute, they would possibly win. It was on those bases, although the Magistrate did not touch on the strength of the state case, it’s one of the things that he had to take into account before passing judgment in this matter. We are happy that he has been granted bail. It indicates what we have been saying that the state case is weak.”
Lifa Nkosi appearing in the Barberton Magistrate’s Court in the video below:
