Accused murderers of slain underworld figure, Mark Lifman, will appear in court again next month after their bail application hearing was postponed.
Private security guards Johannes Jacobs, 53, and Gert Bezuidenhout, 37, appeared at the George Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on charges of premeditated murder.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila confirmed the duo would appear again on December 12 and 13 for their formal bail applications.
IOL reported on Wednesday that during court proceedings the state prosecutor informed the magistrate that the ID parades for both accused are still pending.
The media has been prohibited from publishing pictures of the pair who were nabbed hours after the murder near Uniondale, due to the outstanding identity parade.
Jacobs and Bezuidenhout were arrested after Lifman was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Garden Route Mall on November 3. They were arrested in a white Volkswagen vehicle with fake licence plates.
Provincial police commissioner, Thembisile Patekile, confirmed that one of the two arrested was a former member of the SAPS Special Task Force who left the service in 1998.
On Monday in the Western Cape High Court, Lifman’s name was officially removed from the high court indictment after his death certificate was submitted.
Lifman, 57, was shot and killed a day before he was to appear in the ongoing criminal trial alongside 13 others, including Jerome Booysen and Andre Naude, for the 2017 murder of Brian “Steroid King” Wainstein.
Lifman was out on R100 000 bail at the time of his murder.
The remaining accused in the ongoing criminal trial face 36 charges, including murder, attempted murder, gang activities, and firearm offences.
Cape Times