The four men who are accused of killing a foreign national Emmanuel Sithole in Alexandra on Saturday made a brief court appearance at the Alexandra Regional Court on Tuesday.
Sizwe Bhengu, Sizwe Mngomezulu, Ayanda Sibiya and Sifundi Mzimela are the four main suspects who are accused of killing Sithole in broad daylight and in full view of the cameras on Saturday morning.
The sentences the four could face range from 15, 25 years to life in prison.
The men have not pleaded nor applied for bail and will remain in custody until May 4.
The clearly distraught family of Sithole sat quietly in the court room as they watched the court proceeding.
Thando Sithole, Emmanuel’s cousin said that the only thing that can bring the family peace is for the judiciary to hand down life sentences for all four.
“The whole thing is just very emotional, stressful and depressing. Emmanuel was a man who was working for his family.
“He has three children in Mozambique that he was providing for. So we want life sentence and no bail for them. They took my brother,” she said.
Emmanuel’s step mother, Mamosebetsi Mofokeng said that she is not shocked by his death because death occurs anytime, but she is hurt by the way Emmanuel was brutally murdered.
“ We are not crying because he has died, we are used to death. We are crying because of the way he was killed.
“I am not well. My body is dead, I am just walking. I almost died when I saw the papers (showing the killing of Emmanuel),” she said.
She said she is hoping that proper justice will be done.
The brief court appearance was also attended by Gauteng Premier David Makhura and the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Mxolisi Nxasana who said that this is one of the cases that have to be prioritised.
Nxasana said that the National Prosecutions Authority (NPA) has garnered enough evidence to prosecute the accused.
"The evidence we have gathered in the docket, we have sufficient evidence to prosecute.... the evidence that I am talking about does not rely on the journalist," he said.
Makhura said that although the initial sense of the case is that it was a robbery gone wrong, they are not ruling out the fact that Emmanuel could have been killed because he was a foreign national.
The bail hearing has been set for May 4, 2015.
We have enough evidence to prosecute Sithole alleged killers: NPA
The four men who are accused of killing a foreign national Emmanuel Sithole in Alexandra on Saturday made a brief court appearance at the Alexandra Regional Court on Tuesday.
Sizwe Bhengu, Sizwe Mngomezulu, Ayanda Sibiya and Sifundi Mzimela are the four main suspects who are accused of killing Sithole in broad daylight and in full view of the cameras on Saturday morning.
The sentences the four could face range from 15, 25 years to life in prison.
The men have not pleaded nor applied for bail and will remain in custody until May 4.
The clearly distraught family of Sithole sat quietly in the court room as they watched the court proceeding.
Thando Sithole, Emmanuel’s cousin said that the only thing that can bring the family peace is for the judiciary to hand down life sentences for all four.
“The whole thing is just very emotional, stressful and depressing. Emmanuel was a man who was working for his family.
“He has three children in Mozambique that he was providing for. So we want life sentence and no bail for them. They took my brother,” she said.
Emmanuel’s step mother, Mamosebetsi Mofokeng said that she is not shocked by his death because death occurs anytime, but she is hurt by the way Emmanuel was brutally murdered.
“ We are not crying because he has died, we are used to death. We are crying because of the way he was killed.
“I am not well. My body is dead, I am just walking. I almost died when I saw the papers (showing the killing of Emmanuel),” she said.
She said she is hoping that proper justice will be done.
The brief court appearance was also attended by Gauteng Premier David Makhura and the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Mxolisi Nxasana who said that this is one of the cases that have to be prioritised.
Nxasana said that the National Prosecutions Authority (NPA) has garnered enough evidence to prosecute the accused.
"The evidence we have gathered in the docket, we have sufficient evidence to prosecute.... the evidence that I am talking about does not rely on the journalist," he said.
Makhura said that although the initial sense of the case is that it was a robbery gone wrong, they are not ruling out the fact that Emmanuel could have been killed because he was a foreign national.
The bail hearing has been set for May 4, 2015.
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