Police enlist Interpol support in Sebina arson case
Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday May 22, 2014 16:45
Thapelo Mafishane told the court that he was hopeful that Themba Chuma and Nanelihle Moyo will be available to testify on May 30 and June 19.
Like in previous mentions, Ncube prayed that the charge should be withdrawn because he did not commit the offences as alleged by the police. The accused is charged before magistrate Thebeetsile Mulalu with burning two huts in Sebina.
The stand-in magistrate Sijabuliso Siziba told him to make an application to the substantive magistrate because he did not have powers to determine cases brought before him that were handled by others.
Previously, Mulalu had told the prosecution that he was worried at the pace at which the case was proceeding.
He said so after Ncube complained that he has been in custody since his arrest but little progress has been made in the case. Mulalu said that Ncube’s constitutional right of being tried within reasonable time was being trampled upon because he had been in custody for a long time.
He told the prosecution that the accused should be treated as innocent until he is proven guilty.
Ncube’s case elicited nationwide interest after old women were gruesomely killed in Sebina and surrounding villages.
After Ncube was arrested, Detective Constable Wazha Morobosi said they investigated his case with keen interest because of the number of unresolved murders and arsons in the area between October 2012 and April 2013.
Morobosi said the perpetrators always scribbled something on the ground after committing the offences. In the Ncube arson case, Morobosi said they found the words “I want sex” written on the ground.