Two more suspects have been arrested in connection with the double murder of actor Brett Goldin — who starred in the comedy Crazy Monkey Presents Straight Outta Benoni — and designer Richard Bloom on Wednesday, the Western Cape police said. A pistol, in the two suspects’ possession, was also seized.
A total of eight suspects have now been arrested since Monday morning in connection with the shocking murders.
Goldin and Bloom were found dead in a field opposite the M5 highway in Mowbray, Cape Town on Monday. Each had a bullet wound to the back of the head and were lying on their stomachs, naked except for their socks, said Superintendent Billy Jones.
They were last seen on Saturday night leaving a party in the Camps Bay area shortly before midnight.
Jones told the Mail & Guardian Online on Tuesday that whether Goldin and Bloom were murdered in the field ”has not been confirmed yet”, but indications on the scene all point to the murders happening there.
He said that they are still treating the motive for the murders as robbery and can’t comment on whether or not the murders are gang-related in any way. One of the accused is identified as the younger brother of notorious Americans gang leader Igshaan ”Sanie” Davids of Kensington.
Bloom’s charcoal-colour VW Polo Playa, which had been missing since Saturday, was found abandoned in the Vangate shopping mall at 2am on Wednesday morning, said Jones. It has been sent for forensic testing.
Six suspects appeared in the Wynberg magistrate’s court earlier on Wednesday and the case was postponed until April 26 for further investigation and bail application.
The first three suspects were arrested in Camps Bay on Sunday morning for possession of a suspected stolen item — Goldin’s credit card.
Camps Bay police pulled over a blue Peugeot, driving in a reckless manner, shortly before 4am on Sunday morning. After a search of the three occupants, Goldin’s credit card was found and the three suspects were taken to the Camps Bay police station for questioning.
Police were unable to track down Goldin. Based on the information on the credit card, Goldin’s family were traced, and they indicated that Goldin had been at a party in Camps Bay on Saturday night.
The three suspects were questioned about the whereabouts of Goldin until the early hours of Monday morning. Eventually they accompanied the police officers to the scene and directed them to the corpses.
On Monday, at approximately 9pm, a further two suspects were arrested at a house in Crawford, Athlone.
Initially all five were to appear in the Wynberg Magistrates Court on Wednesday on charges of murder and robbery, but the number increased when a sixth man, who came to visit one of the suspects, was arrested after being questioned by detectives regarding the murders.
According to Cape Talk radio station the six accused, Clinton Davids, Rameez Sayeed, Shavon Marlie, Trevino Cairncross, Nashad Davids and Jade Wyngaard ”were all neatly dressed, and stood in the dock, with their heads held down”.
”When the men appeared from the cells below the court, tears were heard from family members and friends of the accused, who were seated in the public gallery.”
The Star newspaper reported on Tuesday that Goldin had been preparing to travel to the United Kingdom to perform in a Janet Suzman production of Hamlet.
Goldin’s mother Denise was quoted by The Star as saying: ”He was so excited to go [to the UK]. My husband and I feel like our hearts have been torn out. He was such a wonderful, loving man who was always cheerful and full of life.”
The Star quoted a gutted Suzman describing Goldin as, ”someone who lit up a room” and John Kani, who also stars in Hamlet, as saying he was ”a wonderful actor and a great human being who died too young”.