By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GalloImages.
Closing arguments were heard in the bail application of the murder trial of South African rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and his friend Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane in the Durban Magistrate Court.
Forbes and Motsoane were shot outside a popular eatery on Durban’s Florida Road in February last year.
Lindokuhle Thabani Mkhwanazi, Siyanda Eddie Myeza, Lindani Ndimande, Mziwethemba Gwabeni, and Lindokuhle Ndimande were arrested in connection with the murder in February last year.
Two other suspects, Siyabonga and Malusi Ndimande, are in the process of being extradited from Eswatini.
During the proceedings, State Prosecutor Advocate Lawrence Gcaba dismissed some of the arguments made by the defence on Thursday.
The defence had argued that some of the charges against accused were duplicated.They said this only proved the state’s case was “weak”.
However, Gcaba said it wasn’t the case.
“There is evidence supporting a number of charges at this stage of the proceedings. The state may choose to put any charges if the evidence supports the charges. That aspect has not been challenged,” said Gcaba.
“The challenge is the choice of charges that one wants to put, which is not what this court has to determine. The court has to determine if there is prima facie evidence supporting a charge.
“Submissions by the defence that because there might be duplicated charges and the charges might not be proved by the evidence lacks merit and should be dismissed.”
The defence also challenged the money-laundering charges against Gwabeni. They said the transactions didn’t violate the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998 (Poca).
In response, Gcaba argued: “The submissions made by my colleague is a general approach of money laundering. If you go deeper according to the sections of Poca, one realises the differences thereof.”
The R800,000 in question was deposited by Mfundo Gcaba into Gwabeni’s bank account a day after AKA was shot dead
“We’re still following the money, we’re at an advanced stage, that may lead to arrests of certain people.
The state said that it wishes to put all the accused on trial at the same time. However, it was willing to proceed with the five already in court should there be delays in the extradition processes.
“We do wish for our extradition request to be attended to as soon as possible. If this matter is set down for trial before the extradition matter is finalised, we’ll proceed with the five accused. We will deal with those two when the time comes,” said Gcaba.
“We want to trial them at once, but if the situation doesn’t permit, we’ll proceed with those that we have. The case does not necessarily depend on the other two.
The matter adjoined to 15 May when Magistrate Vincent Hlatshwayo will deliver his judgment on the five suspects’ bail application.