The prosecutor in a case involving a man co-accused of stealing a car and then concealing his real identity was forced to ask for another postponement after one of the two suspects failed to appear in court.
The prosecutor in a case involving a man co-accused of stealing a car and then concealing his real identity was forced to ask for another postponement after one of the two suspects failed to appear in court.
Mxolisi Smith appeared alone in the regional court yet again on Friday while his co-accused Gordon Hasim is reported to be in Durban.
The pair were arrested for car theft last year. They were due to appear in court together on Friday but Hasim was out of town for the second consecutive court appearance.
The twist in the case is that Hasim is also accused of lying about his identity.
Investigating officer Warrant Officer Robbie Roberts said during Hasim’s formal bail application last year his name was discovered to actually be Bongani Jele and that KwaZulu-Natal police were looking for him in connection with rape and murder.
Hasim, visibly shocked at the time, listened in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court on 12 September last year as Roberts revealed that Bongani Jele had several pending warrants of arrest against him, including one of murder and rape, possession of an unlicensed firearm and theft of a car.
Hasim insisted he was not Jele and said he had never been charged with a crime. Roberts said he had shown photographs of Hasim to witnesses linked to the case.
He told the court that the man who had sold Hasim and Smith the alleged stolen car had died.
The case was postponed to 27 March for Hasim to be in court.
Jele is wanted in connection with the rape and murder of a woman in Utrecht, theft of a motor vehicle in Emadadeni and for possession of an unlicensed firearm in Dundee.
