The murder trial of Vicki Terblanche continued in the High Court in Gqeberha on Tuesday, where Acting Judge Samson Dunywa ordered the separation of trial.
Leach pleaded guilty to all eight charges against him. However, the state would not accept his plea on the charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances on Tuesday, stating that there were other roleplayers involved.
Dunywa then also rejected the guilty plea on the firearm-related charges and said the state would have to prove its case with ballistic evidence.
He found Leach guilty on four charges, upon which Terblanche's defence, Peter Daubermann, asked for separation of trial.
He argued that finding Leach guilty of murder and defeating the ends of justice, in which he implicates Terblanche, meant the Dunywa had already concluded by accepting the underlying facts, which Daubermann called a "gross irregularity".
After the lunch break, Dunywa ordered the trials to be separated, stating that Leach's matter would continue in the High Court while Terblanche would get a new judge.
The matter was postponed to Wednesday for state prosecutor Marius Stander to consider his next move.
Leach was thus found guilty on count one, conspiracy to commit murder, count six, defeating the ends of justice and two counts of possession of drugs.
The onus is now on state Prosecutor Advocate Marius Stander, who will now have to proceed with Leach's trial by calling witnesses concerning the charges of murder, robbery and the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
Listen to the first two seasons of the Algoa FM News Exclusive Podcast, Journey to Justice, to catch up on this case.
