Staff Reporter.
Four men suspected of the murder of Hillary Gardee appeared at the Nelspruit magistrate’s court in Mpumalanga on Friday.
Sipho Mkhatshwa, Philemon Lukhele, Alberts Gama, and Hlabirwa Rassie Nkuna face charges of murder, rape, and kidnapping of the daughter of former EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee.
The case was postponed to September 16.
Monica Nyuswa, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, said the suspects appeared before the court to determine whether the trial will be heard in the high court.
Mkhatshwa was denied bail, Lukhele abandoned his bail application and Gama will appear on Wednesday next week to apply for bail.
The fourth suspect, Nkuna has been officially charged with seven offences.
He also has pending cases at the Delmas Magistrate Court for the murder of two other women.
Gardee, 28, was found murdered near a plantation four days after she went missing on April 29 in Mbombela, formerly Nelspruit. She had gone shopping with a three-year-old child at the time of her disappearance.
The child was not hurt and was dropped off near to their home on the same day that Gardee went missing.