OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday 10.00PM.
THE Pretoria High Court heard on Thursday that there is irrefutable proof that the prosecution failed to disclose relevant evidence in the trial of three young men who were convicted in 1994 for murdering a woman and two children in Eikenhof, south of Johannesburg
It was also submitted that members of the investigating team were instrumental in causing false evidence to be placed before the trial court.
Counsel for Siphiwe James Bholo, 29, Sipho Samuel Gavin, 27, and Boy Titi Ndweni, 22, known as the “Eikenhof three”, told the court the convicts are innocent, as members of the Azanian People’s Liberation Army have already admitted they committed the crimes. Former Apla commander Philip Dolo has already applied for amnesty before the TRC for the murders, and will testify on September 14.
The three were convicted in 1994 by Judge DJ Curlewis in the Heidelberg Circuit Court of murdering Zandra Mitchley, her son Shaun Nel, 14, and Clare Silberbauer, 13. They were also convicted on charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Bholo and Gavin were sentenced to death but their sentences were later commuted to life imprisonment. Ndweni was given a 17 year jail sentence.
The three applied for bail on Thursday and asked the court to take the new evidence into account, claiming that it will prove their innocence. Curlewis however refused to consider the new evidence, saying this will prejudge the case because the decision to hear the new evidence rests with the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Curlewis granted the three an indefinite postponement of their bail application in order that they may approach the Judge President with a request for another judge.