One of the four men accused of the murder of Hillary Gardee is expected to continue with a bail application in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga.
Philemon Lukhele previously abandoned his bail application.
He is applying for bail after the defence attorneys identified some inconsistencies in the indictment which excludes the case of rape that was in the initial charge sheet.
Lukhele and co-accused Sipho Mkhatshwa, Mduduzi Gama and Rassie Nkune are facing charges including kidnapping, murder, defeating the ends of justice and conspiracy to commit murder.
They allegedly killed the daughter of the former Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) secretary-general Godrich Gardee in May and left her body in a timber plantation outside Mbombela City days a few days after she was reported missing.
Lukhele’s history
During his bail bid last month, his defence attorney Lesego Kwakwa cross-examined him. He told the court, he has been in the country for about 24 years, from Eswatini, his country of birth.
He came to South Africa as an asylum seeker and obtained permanent residence and is now in the process of naturalisation.
He also spoke about his current situation, after being arrested, saying he is failing to service payments on his three houses. The court was also told that he no longer has a stable income as he was suspended from work.
According to Kwakwa, the two accused, Lukhele and Mkhatshwa, opted to re-apply for bail based on new facts.
In the video below, Lukhele and Mkhatshwa’s lawyer explains the reasons behind the new bail bid:
