Three of the five men accused of assaulting a black couple — Jacob Sono and his wife Dudu — at a KFC drive-through were denied bail in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
Magistrate Motlhoki Rapulana remanded Stephen Nel, 39, Joshua Scholtz, 21, and 21-year-old Dicky Junior van Rooyen, citing the seriousness of the charges they faced and the public outcry which followed the much-publicised incident which took place at a KFC drive-through in Pretoria north earlier this month.
“There is a likelihood that, if released on bail, the applicants will interfere with ongoing police investigations. It a likelihood that they will tamper with the investigation and the evidence,” Rapulana delivered her judgement on the trio’s bail application in a packed courtroom.
“It is a possibility that releasing the applicants on bail will cause a public outcry. The public will not have confidence in the justice system if the applicants are to be released on bail. I, therefore, have found that it is not in the interest of justice to release the applicants on bail.”
The matter will return to court on September 14.
Nel, Scholtz, and Van Rooyen are charged, together with 23-year-old Marius Harding and 20-year-old Ockert Muller.
Harding previously abandoned his bail application. He was not in court on Wednesday but remains in police custody. Muller was previously granted R5,000 bail. His bail conditions were extended.
The five are facing charges of attempted murder, assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm, and the pointing a firearm.
State witnesses — two police officers — previously testified in the bail application bid that the five had acted in common purpose and that the attack was racially motivated.
The attack was captured on cellphone video and the clip went viral on social media earlier this month. There was a public outcry leading to the arrest of the five men.
A small group of members of the African National Congress Women’s League celebrated outside court, soon after the court proceedings ended before 6 pm — singing and dancing.
Reacting to the court ruling, National Prosecuting Authority’s spokesperson, Advocate Luvuyo Mfaku said cases with racial undertones are closely monitored so that they do not derail South Africa’s social cohesion project.
“We believe that this decision [denied the trio bail] is in the interest of justice, in terms of ensuring that all the matters that are allegedly racially motivated are actually addressed by the State to ensure that they do not derail our social cohesion,” said Mfaku.
He said the court verdict on Wednesday was not a punishment to the accused men but the ruling will send a strong message to “would-be attackers whether on racial or any other grounds”.
– African News Agency (ANA)
