Bees's card used while in custody

2010-08-30 19:04

Pretoria - It emerged on Monday that Bees Roux's credit card was used at a McDonald's fast food outlet while he was in police custody.

The Blue Bulls rugby player was granted R100 000 bail by the Pretoria District Court after he allegedly beat a metro policeman to death.

Roux spent the weekend in jail after he was arrested on Friday following the death of Tshwane metro police officer Ntshimane Johannes Mogale, 38.

He intended pleading not guilty to charges of murder and driving under the influence of alcohol, the court heard. The matter was postponed to October 15.

Wearing a grey jersey, Roux stood in the dock with his hands clenched.

The courtroom was packed with Tshwane metro policemen, some of whom had to sit on the floor.

Roux's defence counsel asked for bail of R5 000.

'No intention of being a fugitive'

"I have no intention to live the life of a fugitive," Roux told Magistrate Desmond Nair in support of his bail bid.

Defence attorney Rudi Krause told the court Roux had no previous convictions and was not a flight risk.

However, the State asked for bail of R20 000 because of the nature of the crime.

Nair pointed out that Roux was accused of a Schedule Six offence and not Schedule Five, because a law enforcement officer was involved. According to Schedule Six of the Criminal Procedure Act, an accused can only be granted bail if they show "exceptional circumstances" exist to do so.

Krause said these were the State's not opposing bail initially and that the contents of Roux's first statement were not in dispute.

In setting the bail amount, Nair said the court could not ignore the fact that the accused had the means and the funds to travel overseas and that he done so in the past.

According to an affidavit from Roux, he had previously travelled to Ireland, France and Australia to play rugby. He also had a bank account in France containing €5 000 as he had played there for three months in 2008.

His annual income was around R850 000.

Roux was arrested in the early hours on Friday. Mogale's body was found lying in Schoeman Street, Pretoria, with head injuries at 03:00 on Friday. He had reportedly earlier pulled Roux over for suspected drunk driving.

- SAPA