AlgoaFM News
Gqeberha murder accused Arnold Terblanche will spend another Christmas behind bars after his latest bail application was unsuccessful.
The Magistrates Court in the city was deserted on Friday afternoon where only a handful of people involved in the case turned up in courtroom 30 for Judgment to be heard.
Magistrate Kriban Pillay, in a lengthy judgment, went through Terblanche's previous bail applications highlighting the reasons why they too were unsuccessful.
Pillay did not want to delve too much into the new charges Terblanche was facing as that is currently a pending matter before the courts.
The Magistrate said since the beginning of this case, Terblanche had hired several legal practitioners and yet he never informed them about this Private Investigator called Phindile Zweni.
To him, this was peculiar.
Zweni, who is a State Witness, pretended to be an undercover policeman who said he believed in Terblanche's innocence and claimed to be a more senior official than the lead investigating officer in the matter, Colonel Kanna Swanepoel.
Terblanche conceded that he paid an amount of over half a million Rand to Zweni, and claimed he did not lay a charge against him as his legal team advised him to pursue it after he got bail.
During the bail, Terblanche also communicated with Leoni Jordan, Vicki's cousin, and according to Magistrate Pillay, it was a clear effort from the applicant to put a new version before the court and therefore can be seen as an attempt to influence a witness.
Terblanche also accused the State, in particular Marius Stander, of trying to mislead the court.
Pillay said there was no merit to this.
The matter was postponed until the 20th of January 2023.
Terblanche's legal team will now study the Judgment to decide whether or not they will lodge an appeal.
Vicki's body was found in a shallow grave in October last year.
Her boyfriend, Reinhardt Leach and Dyllan Cullis were the first two suspects to be arrested and have both abandoned their bail.
Terblanche was the last person to be arrested and has maintained his innocence.
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