Even though the men charged with killing baby Jordan Leigh Norton have been assaulted by fellow prisoners for a third time, a prosecutor argued on Thursday that they would be safer behind bars.
Prosecutor John Ryneveld made the assertion in his closing submissions in a bail application by Sipho Mfazwe, Mongezi Bobotyane and Zanethemba Gwada, who face charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Mfazwe wept in court last Thursday after he was beaten and kicked during the lunch break in the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court holding cells by fellow-prisoners yelling ”here are the child murderers”.
Bobotyane was also attacked, but not as severely beaten. Both men were taken to hospital that afternoon for a check-up, but Mfazwe was assaulted again on Thursday evening when he arrived back at Pollsmoor prison in Cape Town.
The two men were attacked a third time on Wednesday afternoon, when they climbed into a police truck with other prisoners to be taken back to Pollsmoor.
Their advocate, Charles Simon, said he had warned policemen as they loaded the men that they were courting ”a tragedy”, but they put them in with the other prisoners anyway, and shut the van door.
”The police said to my guys, they must go in but the moment they are assaulted they must shout. It’s absurd,” he said.
He said they were attacked even before the truck had started moving.
”You could hear from outside how they were assaulted… the guys started to scream.”
Mfazwe and Bobotyane were removed from the van and taken to the prison in a different vehicle.
Simon said he was now insisting that they always be transported separately. On Thursday morning they were brought in the common truck, but given seats next to the driver rather than in the back of the van.
Even this did not guarantee their safety, because the prisoners mixed in the yard at the court ”and it’s simple for a guy to pick up a knife and stab”.
”I say my guys must stand trial, justice must prevail, but they cannot be judged by their fellow inmates at this point in time.”
On Thursday afternoon prosecutor Ryneveld, opposing their bid for bail, said it was on record that the accused had been assaulted by fellow inmates ”because of this specific matter that they’re implicated in”.
Inmates were part of the community, and this was ”basically a clear indication… of how their safety will be jeopardised by their release”.
Among the factors listed in the Criminal Procedure Act that a magistrate must weigh up in deciding whether to grant bail are whether the shock or outrage in ”the community” might lead to public disorder if an accused is released, and whether the accused’s safety will be jeopardised by his release.
Earlier, investigating officer Inspector Esmerald Bailey was asked by Simon in cross-examination whether she believed the men were in danger of being killed or assaulted by members of the community if they were freed on bail.
She replied that ”killed” was ”not a nice word”, but said she had received numerous faxed letters and e-mails which showed the community’s outrage over the June 15 killing, which was allegedly carried out at the behest of Dina Rodrigues, who is already out on bail.
”And if I go into detail, I myself have never heard of anybody, of a case before, when a six-month-old baby is killed,” Bailey told the court.
”We’re talking about people paid to commit a murder. The outrage in the community… that is what the community is outraged about.”
She also noted that Gwada and a fifth accused, a 16-year-old youth, had been assaulted by members of their own communities in the Cape Flats’ shacklands after being apprehended for housebreaking.
”This is just one incident, advocate Simon. But it happens every day.”
Magistrate Carmen Wyngaard will give her ruling in the bail application on September 16. – Sapa