A Joza man who faces armed robbery charges in the Zolani car-chase case was denied bail in the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court last Friday.
A Joza man who faces armed robbery charges in the Zolani car-chase case was denied bail in the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court last Friday.
The 38-year-old man was arrested following an armed robbery earlier this year after a dramatic car chase ended with in a Golf 5 crashing into a Zolani house.
The man told the court he himself was a robbery victim. He was arrested with two others after they allegedly robbed a shop owner and his co-worker on their way to deposit money at a bank on 6 May.
All three men had initially abandoned their formal bail application.
The 38-year-old said he intended to plead not guilty to charges of armed robbery with aggravating circumstances; attempted murder; and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
His attorney Mzuphela Yeko told the court that his defence in the trial would be in the form of an alibi, which his girlfriend would support.
During his bail application the man told the court that on the day in question he had been robbed by three young men at the old graveyard near Thatha location.
From the witness stand, he explained that he had been on his way back from walking somewhere with his girlfriend, when he was attacked by three men.
They took his neck chain, he said, and had stabbed him. He had managed to run to a house in the area and sought shelter.
In handing down judgment last Friday, magistrate Ronny Lesele said no court would believe the man's "flimsy" story. Lesele said he was of the opinion that it would not be in the interest of justice to grant him bail.
Bail was refused and the case postponed to 15 August for further investigation.
