The multimillion-rand hijacking trial in which kidnapped schoolboy Liam Aspeling’s father is to testify for the state is scheduled to start in the Cape High Court on Monday.
This is according to advocate William Booth, defence counsel for two of the 11 accused, brothers Selwyn and Virgil de Vries, both from Ennerdale, where Liam was snatched on Tuesday.
The De Vries brothers, who were arrested last year and are in Goodwood Prison in Cape Town, have both pleaded not guilty to involvement in armed robberies involving R2,2 million between June and October 2003.
Liam’s father, Vernon James Aspeling, has reportedly been under witness protection for two years pending his appearance as a state witness.
According to the daily Afrikaans newspaper, Beeld, he was being kept in a prison in the Western Cape.
Police were referring all queries on this aspect of the case to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
”We do not comment on matters with regard to witness protection,” NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi, said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the police have released identikits of two people wanted in connection with Liam’s kidnapping.
One was about 28-years-old, 1,75m tall, with a coffee-coloured complexion. He was wearing a light-brown, long-sleeved T-shirt and a brown hat at the time of the kidnapping, said Gauteng police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht.
The other was about 40-years-old, of medium build with a dark complexion. He had short hair and was wearing a red shirt with stripes.
There had been no other progress in the search for the grade four pupil, who was kidnapped outside his home while getting into a car taking him to school at 6.40am on Tuesday, said Vaal police spokesperson Superintendent Maria Mazibuko. – Sapa