Durban — In an about-turn, three men alleged to have kidnapped an 11-year-old boy and demanded R1 million ransom from his mother indicated that they wanted to apply for bail.

The trio appeared in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court on Monday, where the long-awaited trial was meant to begin.

In April, the trial was set down to be heard over three days from Monday. The trial was meant to start in January but had to be adjourned due to issues of legal representation being placed in funds by two of the four accused.

There have been other delays between then and now coupled with the fact that the trial dates had to be set around the school calendar to accommodate the child witness.

The three men, Lindokuhle Mthokozisi Thabede, 29, Mvelo Khuzwayo, 29, and Fisokuhle Mathews Mbatha, 32, are charged along with the boy’s neighbour, 40, alleged to be the mastermind behind the kidnapping.

The trio have been behind bars for nearly three years, while the child’s neighbour is out on bail.

Thabede and Khuzwayo were denied bail while Mbatha abandoned his bail application. The trio’s lawyer Xolani Dlamini said Thabede and Khuzwayo would now be applying for bail on new facts. Dlamini announced this after he had addressed the court on the absence of the neighbour’s lawyer, Ayanda Khanyile.

“During the pre-trial issues of fees were confirmed for all the accused. There’s been a disagreement between accused four (the neighbour) and Khanyile and as a result, Khanyile won’t be in court today. However, we are ready to proceed,” he said.

Magistrate Mohamed Motala adjourned the matter so that Dlamini could contact Khanyile to instruct him to come to court.

“If he is not here there will be consequences, he knows full well that he can’t just not come, he has to withdraw here in court …He must be here,” said magistrate Motala.

However, by the time the matter was recalled, Khanyile had not arrived.

Motala then made an order that he would report Khanyile’s conduct to the Legal Council of South Africa as well as the provincial office of the judge president. A copy of today’s court record will be sent to the Legal Council to take Khanyile’s matter forward, especially since a minor is a complainant in this case. He (Khanyile) is not allowed to represent you (the neighbour) because of his conduct.

Asked whether it was true that he had not paid Khanyile, the boy’s neighbour said the last time he had seen Khanyile was in court in April; he had not been able to reach him by phone between then and Monday.

Despite being presented with an option of applying for representation by Legal Aid, the neighbour said he wanted a private attorney and he would try his best to have a new lawyer on Tuesday (today).

“I can’t express myself without getting angry about how Khanyile has let everybody down. State witnesses suffer because of delays. I want to get moving with this trail. It has been a frustrating morning, Khanyile disappeared and despite efforts to get him here he failed,” said magistrate Motala as he rolled the matter over to Tuesday (today).

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