The five suspects accused of killing the Coka brothers at the Pampoenkraal farm in Piet Retief, Mpumalanga will know their fate on Friday. This after the Piet Retief Magistrate’s Court postponed their bail application.
Daniel Malan, Cornelius Greyling, Othard Klingberg, Michael Sternberg and Zenzele Yende were arrested a few weeks ago following the death of Amos and Zenzele Coka.
The defence has urged the Piet Retief Magistrate’s Court to release the suspects on bail. They allege that the state witnesses were dishonest when giving statements to the police.
The defence also claim that the alleged shooting incident took place because there was a confrontation between two groups of people. They also allege that one of the suspects and another farmer were assaulted shortly before the fatal shooting.
The court also heard that the fifth suspect, Zenzele Yende played a role in holding captive one of the people who were apparently on the farm to seek employment.
On the day of the incident, it is alleged that a group of seasonal farm workers went to the farm to ask the owner as to why they had not been hired this year. According to the police, one of the deceased was on the farm to rescue the person who was allegedly held captive.
Five men accused of killing Coka brothers apply for bail
The second deceased was an employee at the farm.
The investigating officer, Vukile Nhlapho told the court that Yende could be involved in the alleged shooting incident because he was in possession of a firearm on the day he attempted to evade arrest.
Nhlapho also says police found ammunition and cable ties in Yende’s house. However, Nhlapho says at this stage there is no evidence that Yende also fired shots.
The state then argued that Yende and the other suspects are accused of murder because they acted in common purpose. The state is also concerned about the authenticity of a video that was provided by the defence.
State Prosecutor, Robert Malokoane says the video only shows selective scenes.
Malokoane also dismissed claims made by the defence that one of the suspects who fired shots was disoriented when the incident occurred.
He also dismissed an allegation that one of the deceased grabbed a firearm from one of the farmers and started shooting. The Piet Retief Magistrate’s Court is expected to hand down the bail judgement on Friday.
