Alleged confession of shredding body and feeding remains to pigs
Putfontein triple murder case moved to high court
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The murder case against three men who are accused of killing people using a rifle they were testing has been transferred to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria for trial.
Eugene Roberts, Ronald Holmes and his nephew Jean Pierre Holmes appeared briefly in the Benoni regional court where they were formally charged with the murder of Tony Mziza, who was shot dead, his body burnt and later dumped in an open veld in Putfontein, on the East Rand, in March.
They face two other counts of murder, and have abandoned their bail application.
Mziza has not been buried pending DNA results to confirm his identity.
State prosecutor Pheelo Maleleka said the director of public prosecutions had advised that the matter be moved to the high court in Pretoria.
"The docket returned yesterday, advising that the matter would no longer be held in the Benoni court. However, from our side, it will be postponed for further investigation," said Maleleka.
During their past court appearance, Roberts revealed spine-chilling details about how they allegedly shot, decapitated and disposed of one victim by shredding his body and feeding it to pigs.
He further revealed how another man was killed, his body burnt with petrol while his head and hand were thrown inside a sceptic tank at the Holmes residence.
The case was postponed to November 26.
During their bail application in the Daveyton regional court, investigating officer Det-Sgt Moswarisheng Makofane said Roberts had confessed to the murder. Makofane said Roberts also revealed how the Holmes pair, along with Mduduzi Mike Mpotswane, had put the body of a victim in a grinding machine and later fed the shredded remains to pigs.
“Roberts showed the police a video of them [the trio] shredding the body,” he said.
Mpotswane only faces a charge of theft for taking part in transporting plastic granules under the instruction of the trio to an unknown location after they were stolen from Mziza's storage container at Robert's plot.
He did not appear in court with the trio yesterday as his case of theft has been separated from the triple murder case. Mpotswane is due back in court on November 29 where he will appear along with Gert Cloete on theft charges relating to the granules.