The family of the man who was killed in Parkgate, Verulam, on Sunday, has expressed great concern for his safety, one suspect instead of three appeared in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Mr. Senzo Jali (45) who was overseeing the rents left by his mother who died two years ago, is said to have been stabbed and stabbed by three men who were his tenants.
After his murder, the police arrived at the scene and arrested all three suspects.
However, when the case came to court, Mr. Mzwandile Eric Cele appeared alone.
It is a country received unconfirmed reports that the two suspects who were taken by the police with Cele were later released saying that Cele told the police that he killed the deceased alone.
One of the relatives of the deceased, who asked not to be named, said that they were scared and worried to find out that the two suspects were hiding outside when they had threatened other relatives on the day of the incident.
“After killing the deceased, they threatened his sister, other family members who were present when the incident happened, as well as those who saw the deceased being injured. They said that as they left, they will come back and when they return, they want to guard those who will testify about the incident, and do the same,” said the relative.
We said that this statement made the family’s knees filled with water when they saw one suspect appear in the box, instead of three.
We went on to say that what bothers them about the speech said by Cele, that he killed the deceased alone, is that it is not true.
“The incident happened in front of people, even among the relatives of the deceased who saw them attacking him with knives and butts near the neighbor’s house. Even after they had finished killing him, they passed by the sister of the deceased, each carrying his own weapon. They were all dripping with blood. They were all covered in blood. We are confused if we believe the suspect’s statement that he killed her alone,” said the relative.
While they were busy stabbing and scratching him, they told his nephew (14) who was trying to reprimand them that it was too late for what he was saying. We pointed out that when they passed by the deceased’s sister, they told her to go and look for her “dog” because they were done with it.
When he appeared in court, Cele was an unreadable letter, showing no emotion on his face. He asked to be represented by a government lawyer, which was Ms Ngidi.
Being spoken to by her lawyer Ms. Ngidi, she tried to prevent the media from taking pictures of her, a request that the Magistrate, Ms. Luthuli, immediately rejected. Mrs. Luthuli said that the court is open, so open justice allows those who have given permission to the media to take pictures to report the matter properly.
The State, through the Prosecutor, Ms. Ngwane, told the court that they will oppose the suspect’s bail application once he submits it.
“Those who witnessed the incident will not be safe if he is released,” said Ms Ngwane, who said the deceased was receiving death threats from the suspect as well as other tenants.
He said that before the killing incident, there was a debate between them but they were reconciled.
“They also appeared to be following him with guns,” said Ms. Ngwane, who said at that time the deceased’s sister called the police but they arrived after the incident.
Mrs. Luthuli then adjourned the case to next Tuesday so that the suspect could apply for bail.
It is a country found out that just this incident happened, three men, apparently from Mnambithi and Port Shepstone, came to the deceased’s home and asked for a place to rent.
They took three shacks, they were told that each shack is paid a rent of R500. It is said that they released the money at first but when they had to continue the next month they started making excuses. Two of them ended up living in the same shack while the third continued to live in his house as he was living with his girlfriend.
It turns out that not only did they make excuses for not paying the rent to the deceased, but they ended up beating him and threatening to kill him if he wanted it. It is said that the deceased finally called the police two weeks ago, and chased them away. It turns out that when they left, they told him in his eyes that they would come back and kill him. It is a country found out that since he was killed on Sunday, they have been hunting him for days, even stopping at houses, armed with weapons, and he doesn’t even sleep at home. He is killed and he calls his sister who does not live at home to talk because he realizes that his life is in danger, he is being hunted by the tenants.
Outside the court, the family also expressed that they want to be arrested and the two released, and said they want to add the boyfriend who was living with them because he was the one who took the lead in showing them where he ran to hide on the day of the incident, they hunted him with weapons.