OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 1.55pm.
THE six men accused of the gang-rape and murder of teenager Valencia Farmer appeared in the Parow regional court on Monday.
When they arrived for their bail hearing, a banner-waving crowd of about 200 people chanted “no bail, no bail” and “hang the murderers”.
The accused are Glenville Faro, (18) Johannes Kriel, (25) Albert Frieslaar, (30) and a 15-year-old youth — all members of the Naughty Boys gang; Elmario Maasdorp, (21) a member of the 28s prison gang; and Franklyn Roberts, (19) not a gang member.
After a five-hour wait outside the courtroom for the accused to either be taken back to prison or released on bail, the shouts from the crowd had changed to: “Give them bail, give them bail — we will deal with them.”
A policeman informed the crowd during the lunch hour that the bail hearing had been postponed to 2pm as the court was still sorting out the legal representation of one of the accused and that he could be applying for bail.
The other five will remain in custody. The case has been postponed to September 7 in the same court.
After the crowd bayed for the blood of the accused, the Reverend George Mentoor of the United Methodist Church led them in prayer and asked them to remain calm and to let the law take its course.