Durban — New trial dates in the extortion and kidnapping case of an 11-year-old boy were set on Monday in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court.
The start of the trial in January was thwarted when the attorney for two of the four accused did not pitch in court, apparently because they were not being paid. However, the accused previously told the court that the attorney had been placed in funds.
The three accused and the neighbour of the child, alleged to be the mastermind behind the kidnapping, appeared in court on Monday where a pre-trial conference was held, following the appointment of new attorneys for the accused, who had been left in the lurch.
The trio Lindokuhle Mthokozisi Thabede, 29, Mvelo Khuzwayo, 29, Fisokuhle Mathews Mbatha, 32, and a 40-year-old neighbour of the child are alleged to have kidnapped the boy at gunpoint, kept him at a certain house and demanded R1 million ransom from the child’s mother.
The neighbour cannot be named to protect the identity of the minor child.
The four men are charged with kidnapping of a minor, kidnapping and extortion.
It is alleged that on May 18, 2022, in uMzinyathi in Inanda, the men kidnapped the child just a stone’s throw away from his home as he was being driven to school. They also allegedly kidnapped the child’s driver and forced him into the boot of a car at gunpoint.
The accused allegedly contacted the child’s mother demanding ransom of R1m, failing which, they threatened, the child would be killed.
The State alleges that “by means of the said threat, inducement, or pressure the accused obtained an advantage not due to them in the sum of R90 000”.
After the child was kidnapped, the child’s mother contacted the police and the ransom was given to the accused under surveillance by the police.
The child was kept in a certain house from the morning of that day until being rescued by police after one of the accused volunteered information about the child’s location; this was after police intercepted the vehicle the accused had been travelling in.
The ransom money was recovered in the home of one of the accused.
The neighbour was the last accused to be arrested after being linked through cell phone evidence.
Thabede, Khuzwayo and Mbatha remain in custody as they were denied bail, while the neighbour is out on bail.
In court, State prosecutor Kaystree Ramsamujh said she would be calling nine witnesses in the matter, including the child.
She said there was also cellphone evidence in the form of records linking the accused, as well as forensic evidence in the form of fingerprints.
“There are also three photo albums: one of the first crime scene, another of where the child was kept, and an ID parade album,” she said.
Lawyer Xolani Dlamini, representing Thabede, Khuzwayo and Mbatha, said his clients intended to plead not guilty, adding that he would be challenging the cellphone and fingerprint evidence.
Lawyer A Khanyile, representing the child’s neighbour, said his client also intended to plead not guilty and would not be objecting to any of the evidence to be led by the State.
The trial is to be heard over two days in April.
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