A boy accused of fatally stabbing a man at the Menlyn shopping centre in Pretoria earlier this month was released on R500 bail on Monday.
The 17-year-old boy from Eersterust must report to the local police each Tuesday and Thursday, have no direct or indirect contact with witnesses and is not allowed to apply for any travel documents.
Pretoria magistrate Ansie Scheepers said he is a pupil who needs to attend school and she found no reason to think he will not stand his trial.
She said it will be to his own detriment if he tries to flee.
Juan Lee Olivier (22), of Kameeldrift, was stabbed in the chest on August 13 in the Galaxy Arcade in the centre. He was declared dead when he arrived at the Pretoria East hospital.
The state called investigating officer Captain Thomas Janse van Rensburg to testify in the accused’s bail application. He said six people are willing to give statements on what had happened that night at the centre.
Janse van Rensburg said he has watched the security video of the incident, showing Olivier returning from the bathroom at the arcade. The accused allegedly broke away from a group and tried to strangle Olivier, a student, with a cloth. A fight ensued in which the teenager allegedly stabbed Olivier in the chest.
Janse van Rensburg said the boy was apprehended by security personnel who also found a home-made knife with a six-inch blade on him.
”The deceased and the accused did not know each other. There is also no evidence that the accused was provoked,” Janse van Rensburg said.
He does not believe the accused was the only person involved in the murder, and more arrests might be imminent.
He said the video shows how one person stepped away from a group to attack the victim.
”The accused was part of that group. I have often worked with gang violence in Eersterust. If the accused was the youngest of a group, he could have been ordered to commit a murder. It is important for me to find the rest of the group,” Janse van Rensburg testified.
The court also heard that Olivier’s family has received several phone calls of unknown persons, telling them to stop the case against the accused.
He opposed bail, saying the accused might interfere with witnesses or the other suspects.
State prosecutor Lucas Choma said the community was shocked by this murder and the release of the accused on bail could cause a public outcry.
Reginald Ally, the defence attorney, said his client is an unemployed pupil with no previous convictions or pending cases.
He lives with his mother and there is no basis for the state’s allegations that he would not stand his trial or interfere with witnesses.
Ally said the threats to the Olivier family cannot be blamed on his client, as the boy was in custody at the time.
Referring to fears of public reaction, the attorney said the Eersterust community raised funds to assist the accused and his mother with the court proceedings.
The boy will appear in court again on October 27. The case was postponed for further investigation. — Sapa