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BAIL BID DISMISSED

IN THE DOCK: Accused GBeraldt Nyamtumbo. Pic. Bafana Mahlangu. 20/05/2010. © Sowetan.
IN THE DOCK: Accused GBeraldt Nyamtumbo. Pic. Bafana Mahlangu. 20/05/2010. © Sowetan.

ONE of the two men accused of beating a one-year-old baby into a coma was denied bail in the Johannesburg magistrate's court yesterday.

ONE of the two men accused of beating a one-year-old baby into a coma was denied bail in the Johannesburg magistrate's court yesterday.

Nelson Maphosa, a Mozambican who is charged with the attempted murder of Marzene Kruger and her minder Francina Sekhu, had applied for bail on the grounds that he was not a danger to society and that the state had no case against him.

Marzene is recovering at Sandton Medi-Clinic, while Sekhu was treated and discharged.

Maphosa and his co-accused, Geraldt Nyantumbo, allegedly attacked baby Marzene and Sekhu during a house robbery in Robindale, Randburg, last month.

Nyantumbo abandoned his bail application, while a third suspect, Chakoma Machaba, is still on the run and is believed to have fled the country.

Magistrate Stanley Mkhari said Maphosa had failed to provide the court with enough evidence to secure himself bail.

"If the court were to release people with personal circumstances such as the accused on bail it would jeopardise public confidence in the justice system.

"I took into consideration the amount of violence directed to the baby and the maid before the robbery was completed," Mkhari said.

"I don't understand why the child had to be brutalised."

Mkhari also raised concerns about Maphosa's identity document, which shows its issuing date as June 2007, while on checking with the Department of Home Affairs it was found that the ID number on it was only recorded in 2007.

He said the fact that Maphosa has no relatives in South Africa, no fixed employment and no assets also worked against him.

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