Five farmers and a policeman accused of killing two farm workers will stand trial next year.
The six appeared in the Free State High Court sitting in the Parys Magistrate's Court on Friday and their trial was postponed to May 2. It was set down to run until until May 26.
The six are Gert van der Westhuizen, 51, Anton Loggenberg, 49, police captain Hendrik Prinsloo, 46, Cornelius Loggenberg, 19, Lodewikus van der Westhuizen, 18, and Gert van Vuuren, 23. They are accused of assaulting farm workers Samuel Tjexa, 37, and Seun Tangashe, 27, on January 6 at Biessiebult farm outside Parys. They are all out on bail.
The two men were hunted down, caught, assaulted and left for dead after being accused of attempting to rob a farmer of R20000 at gunpoint.
Tjexa succumbed to his injuries after being admitted at the Parys Provincial Hospital while Tangashe was declared dead on arrival at Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein.
The men's deaths caused an uproar in the sleepy town where whites and blacks were divided in and outside the court building during the court appearances by the accused.
Prosecutor Advocate Sandile Mthethwa told the court that the defence would use two advocates during the trial.
Kobus Burger, representing all the accused, said there were two matters that needed to be discussed regarding a possibility of trials within a trial.
"We are not anticipating that [a trial within a trial] because there are no pointing outs or confessions. It will also depend on who will be judge. There may be a trial within a trial when witnesses will be testifying on their statements. We will need to prove authenticity of some of the statements made by witnesses," Burger said.
He said there was a document missing and asked the state to provide it before December 15.
He requested to be provided with three copies of photos relating to the case timeously.
"We will try that by December 15 when we respond to the defence [about the outstanding document], we will provide those photos," Mthethwa said.
"We have records of the photos and they will be provided to the defence before February 3 next year."
Friday's court appearance was notable for the absence of demonstrations from various political parties outside the court, that had become a feature of previous appearances. Instead, only family members and the media were present in court.
ntwagaes@sowetan.co.za
Farmers, cop accused of worker killings go to trial
Five farmers and a policeman accused of killing two farm workers will stand trial next year.
The six appeared in the Free State High Court sitting in the Parys Magistrate's Court on Friday and their trial was postponed to May 2. It was set down to run until until May 26.
The six are Gert van der Westhuizen, 51, Anton Loggenberg, 49, police captain Hendrik Prinsloo, 46, Cornelius Loggenberg, 19, Lodewikus van der Westhuizen, 18, and Gert van Vuuren, 23. They are accused of assaulting farm workers Samuel Tjexa, 37, and Seun Tangashe, 27, on January 6 at Biessiebult farm outside Parys. They are all out on bail.
The two men were hunted down, caught, assaulted and left for dead after being accused of attempting to rob a farmer of R20000 at gunpoint.
Tjexa succumbed to his injuries after being admitted at the Parys Provincial Hospital while Tangashe was declared dead on arrival at Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein.
The men's deaths caused an uproar in the sleepy town where whites and blacks were divided in and outside the court building during the court appearances by the accused.
Prosecutor Advocate Sandile Mthethwa told the court that the defence would use two advocates during the trial.
Kobus Burger, representing all the accused, said there were two matters that needed to be discussed regarding a possibility of trials within a trial.
"We are not anticipating that [a trial within a trial] because there are no pointing outs or confessions. It will also depend on who will be judge. There may be a trial within a trial when witnesses will be testifying on their statements. We will need to prove authenticity of some of the statements made by witnesses," Burger said.
He said there was a document missing and asked the state to provide it before December 15.
He requested to be provided with three copies of photos relating to the case timeously.
"We will try that by December 15 when we respond to the defence [about the outstanding document], we will provide those photos," Mthethwa said.
"We have records of the photos and they will be provided to the defence before February 3 next year."
Friday's court appearance was notable for the absence of demonstrations from various political parties outside the court, that had become a feature of previous appearances. Instead, only family members and the media were present in court.
ntwagaes@sowetan.co.za
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