(Photo: Isabel Venter/Maroela Media)
An elderly resident of Eloff in Mpumalanga who is charged with murder remains in custody after his bail application was refused in the Magistrate’s Court in Delmas on Wednesday.
Adriaan van Tonder (71) will remain in custody until his next appearance in court.
According to the indictment, Van Tonder faces five charges, which include premeditated murder, pointing and firing a firearm, attempted murder of Motha’s widow and minor child as well as crimen injuria.
Earlier it was reported that Motha, a father of two, was shot dead in front of his nine-year-old son in February. According to the police, Motha and Van Tonder lived in two different homes on the same holding near Eloff.
Sgt. Nhlapo, investigating officer, testified that Motha tried to get to the water pump installed on Van Tonder’s part of the yard. The owner of the plot installed the pump to provide water during water outages. Delmas has been suffering from sporadic water problems for years.
According to Nhlapo, Motha was shot in the face and Van Tonder would later say “he deserves” it. He also sat by Motha’s body with the firearm and threatened to shoot other people who tried to get close to him.
Van Tonder was immediately arrested. His bail application dragged on after he first abandoned the process himself, later changed his mind again and a lawyer from Legal Aid South Africa had to be appointed for him.
The court found that it would not be in the interest of justice to grant Van Tonder’s bail application. His case was subsequently postponed until later this year for further investigation.