By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The bail application of the man accused of murdering Warrick “DJ Warras” Stock has been rolled over to Thursday by the Johannesburg Magistrate Court.
Victor Majola appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday to continue with his bail application.
Stock was fatally shot on 16 December 2025 outside a building near the Carlton Centre in Johannesburg’s central business district (CBD).
The 44-year-old Majola was arrested on 22 December and is facing a schedule 6 offence of premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
The CCTV footage took the centre stage during the court proceedings on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, testifying for the state, investigating officer Abe Montwedi of the Gauteng Provincial Investigating Unit told the court CCTV footage from a nearby butchery shows Majola arriving with the suspected shooter, sitting together before the shooting and leaving together afterwards.
During proceedings, Magistrate Annalise Tlhapi instructed investigating officer Montwedi to urgently contact the owner of the butchery to establish whether a fresh copy of the footage could be obtained directly from the business, to avoid potential delays and chain-of-custody concerns linked to SAPS forensic offices in Pretoria.
Majola’s lawyer, Dumisani Mabunda, told the court that access to the footage was critical for the defence and warned that withholding it could prejudice his client and undermine the fairness of the bail proceedings.
However, Montwedi later reported back to court that the owner of the butchery said the footage was only retained for 10 days and had been deleted after it was initially handed over to police.
The matter was postponed for a few minutes on Wednesday afternoon after concerns were raised about the availability and handling of the video evidence, which the state claims captured about 45 minutes of movement involving Majola and the other two accused in the moments leading up to the fatal attack.
The court said it would consider how the footage should be handled and whether it would be admissible before ruling on the bail application.
The hearing also revisited disputes over Majola’s residential address, which the state has cited as a reason to oppose bail.
Tlhapi rolled the matter over so that both the state and the defence can reach an amicable decision on the footage issue before proceeding with the bail application.
“The matter is rolled over until tomorrow for both the state and the defence … still want to finalise on addition on what they have said to submit to the court regarding the issue of the video footage and the court will make a ruling,” ruled Tlhapi.
The bail hearing is expected to resume on Thursday, when the court is expected to rule on the CCTV footage and give the verdict on Majola’s release.