Cape Town - It was a long and tiring wait in court for the family of a kidnapped and later rescued 8-year-old Rylands girl, where the eight suspects arrested for the crime appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court.
The suspects made their fourth court appearance on Wednesday following their arrest on November 14.
On the morning of November 4 last year, five suspects got out of two vehicles and grabbed the 8-year-old girl from a stationary school vehicle in Amber Court, Gatesville.
A police tip-off led them to recover the victim from a shack in Town Two, Khayelitsha, with the suspects found inside and guarding the shack.
Initially, seven suspects appeared before Magistrate Goolam Bawa, when additional charges of belonging to a criminal gang under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca), robbery with aggravating circumstances for two accused, kidnapping alternatively human trafficking, child pornography, and contravention of the Cybercrime Act, were added to the initial charge of kidnapping and attempted extortion.
An eighth suspect, a Zimbabwean national, joined the seven South African suspects during last week’s court appearance and was found to have driven one of the vehicles the suspects had been using on the day of the kidnapping.
The men, aged between 25 and 47, appeared in front of Bawa while a small group including the victim’s family and friends watched. After a six-hour wait, the matter was finally heard. Before the bail application can take place, the attorneys have put in an application for the disclosure of the docket.
The suspects are represented by three private attorneys and legal aid.
A defence attorney told Bawa that the request was specifically related to two bits of video footage, namely CCTV footage from a neighbour of the kidnapping incident as well as a video of the victim that was allegedly sent to the father of the victim, in an attempt to extort money from the family.
The State intends to argue that the video reportedly sent on November 8 be considered as child pornography.
TThe State is of the view that the video reportedly sent on November 8 could be considered as child pornography.
The attorney stated that they were not asking for a copy of the footage but access to it so as to ascertain which suspects had been involved directly, and, if possible, to exonerate others.
He also stated that this would not undermine the investigation but would merely assist the applicants in presenting their application for bail.
Bawa, however, said this would be disclosed during the proceedings at some stage.
The case has been postponed to today. The victim’s father said the video was not sent to him, but to a worker at his shop as they did not have his WhatsApp number.
He previously mentioned that the suspects had contacted him, demanding a large sum of money or they would harm his daughter.
Family spokesperson Imdaad Harris said: “The feeling is still the same. Nothing has changed. They are just out there to prolong the whole thing. As long as they’re inside there, we’re going to get more information.”
The suspects could be seen looking over their shoulders to wink at a familiar face in the courtroom, with about 10 people in the courtroom who had come out for them, overwhelming the handful of the victim’s supporters.
“They’re coming out in their numbers; their support is there, which means they’re all benefiting, whatever crime they committed, they’re all benefiting from it,” Harris said.