Siyabonga Sesant
Judgment has been reserved until September 30 in Gqeberha businessman and murder-accused Arnold Terblanche’s desperate third bid for bail after allegedly orchestrating the murder of his wife Vicki in October 2021.
Coincidentally it’s also the date that all three accused in the matter are expected to appear in the Gqeberha magistrates court.
Terblanche, 54, was not in the high court during deliberations on Friday.
State prosecutor Marius Stander lamented the defense’s accusations that investigating officer Kanna Swanepoel did a “sloppy” job, saying defense advocate Peter Daubermann chastised Swanepoel unfairly.
Daubermann said Swanepoel’s evidence was highly speculative and riddled with innuendos and an attempt to mislead the court.
Key to this, he said, Terblanche and another accused in the matter, Reinhardt Leach, had a WhatsApp conversation on the 20th of October - two days after Vicki’s death - which implied that they didn’t know Vicki was already killed at the time.
Vicki’s body was found in a shallow grave in the Greenbushes area on October 20.
Daubermann said he based his argument on “new facts” which included electronic conversations between the parties involved with Terblanche, which he said proved his client had nothing to do with the murder.
But Stander reminded the court that it was a Scheduled 6 offense and – again – no exceptional circumstances were provided for murder-accused Arnold Terblanche to be released on bail.
The onus was on the accused to prove why he should be released on bail.
Daubermann told the court Terblanche would be able to pay bail of R100 000 or more.
He said Terblanche had electronic conversations with the other accused in the case that would prove he had nothing to do with Vicki’s death.
Stander charged that despite what Daubermann said, the state is confident it's in possession of undisputable evidence implicating all of the accused in the matter, including Terblanche.
