Riot Hlatshwayo and Lazarus Mnisi
Riot Hlatshwayo and Lazarus Mnisi
A lawyer representing four men accused of harvesting body parts from a victim while he was still alive had to dash and seek refuge at the Bushbuckridge police station.
This was after an angry mob attacked him with knobkerries, sjamboks and stones on Tuesday in protest against him representing the accused.
Pietman Lawrence apparently drove towards the gate of the Mapulaneng magistrate's court where the four were expected to apply for bail, when a group of people armed with traditional weapons blocked the entrance.
They attacked his car and he sped off to the Bushbuckridge police station about a kilometre away. He returned with the police who escorted him into the court.
"These people belong in jail and we don't want any lawyer to help them out on bail or any other way.
"We are not safe with them in the community. They are vampires," said one of the assailants.
Lawrence told the packed court that the people who were protesting outside the building were making a noise over nothing "because the case was very weak".
He said there was no eyewitness except the police evidence claiming that the victim's testicles were missing, which was not proof that his clients were linked to the murder.
Floyd Patrick Mokoena, 58, his son Toto Sydney Mokoena, 33, Justice Mjojo Ndubane, 28, and Simon Nkosi, 32, are accused of killing Clarence Austin Brown, 25, on February 23.
They allegedly ambushed him as he was returning from a night drinking spree at Oakley village and offered him a lift in a Toyota Venture.
Police allege that the four accused then grabbed Brown, cut off his testicles and removed parts of his brain as well as bones while he was still alive.
Lawrence claimed that the police had tortured his clients.
The case was postponed to November 7.
LAWYER RUNS FOR dear LIFE
Riot Hlatshwayo and Lazarus Mnisi
Riot Hlatshwayo and Lazarus Mnisi
A lawyer representing four men accused of harvesting body parts from a victim while he was still alive had to dash and seek refuge at the Bushbuckridge police station.
This was after an angry mob attacked him with knobkerries, sjamboks and stones on Tuesday in protest against him representing the accused.
Pietman Lawrence apparently drove towards the gate of the Mapulaneng magistrate's court where the four were expected to apply for bail, when a group of people armed with traditional weapons blocked the entrance.
They attacked his car and he sped off to the Bushbuckridge police station about a kilometre away. He returned with the police who escorted him into the court.
"These people belong in jail and we don't want any lawyer to help them out on bail or any other way.
"We are not safe with them in the community. They are vampires," said one of the assailants.
Lawrence told the packed court that the people who were protesting outside the building were making a noise over nothing "because the case was very weak".
He said there was no eyewitness except the police evidence claiming that the victim's testicles were missing, which was not proof that his clients were linked to the murder.
Floyd Patrick Mokoena, 58, his son Toto Sydney Mokoena, 33, Justice Mjojo Ndubane, 28, and Simon Nkosi, 32, are accused of killing Clarence Austin Brown, 25, on February 23.
They allegedly ambushed him as he was returning from a night drinking spree at Oakley village and offered him a lift in a Toyota Venture.
Police allege that the four accused then grabbed Brown, cut off his testicles and removed parts of his brain as well as bones while he was still alive.
Lawrence claimed that the police had tortured his clients.
The case was postponed to November 7.
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