Mvuyo Mati

Two men appeared in the King William's Town magistrates' court yesterday charged with the murder of 81-year-old Bennie Reuben Woycieh a week ago.

The men are Mandlenkosi Gcobo, 22, and Bongani Dyaba, 25, of Kei Road.

The police said three men were being held for Woycieh's killing, but only Gcobo and Dyaba appeared in court yesterday.

Gcobo told the magistrate other cases against him were pending. The magistrate did not ask him to explain.

The accused were not asked to plead and the trial was postponed to February 1 to enable the men to apply for legal aid.

Woycieh was murdered at his Kei Road house near Bhisho on Wednesday.

He left the house to empty a bucket, but did not return. His family found his body lying in a pool of blood.

He had been stabbed 14 times in the stomach and three times in the chest.

Nothing had been taken from him.

Police Superintendent Mtati Tana said the suspects were arrested on Thursday night.

He said Woycieh was well-known in the King William's Town area as a Good Samaritan.