Burnt alive: 6 remanded to Jan
2006-11-08 16:30
Johannesburg - The case of six suspects charged with the murders of four security guards was postponed to January next year, Limpopo police said on Wednesday.
Three of the guards were burnt to death in their vehicle and the fourth one was shot.
The six appeared in Mokopane magistrate's court and will remain in custody.
Superintendent Ronel Otto said: "The case was remanded to be heard from January 9 to 11 2007 for formal bail applications."
The men are each facing four counts of murder and one count of armed robbery.
The four security guards - Deon Steyn, Marcus Malete, Dirk Kleynhans and Hennie Botha - were attacked in a cash-in-transit heist in Limpopo's Waterberg area on September 29.
Set the security van alight
They were taking money to a bank in Lephalale when four gunmen in a Mercedes-Benz pushed their van off the road, causing it to overturn.
The robbers fired several shots at the van, killing one of the guards, before stealing an undisclosed amount of cash and then dousing the van with a flammable chemical.
One of the robbers set the security van alight, with all four guards trapped inside.
About 50 people demonstrated outside court on Wednesday.
The demonstration, organised by civil rights group AfrIForum, laid roses outside the court and held a minute's silence. AfriForum was established by Solidarity trade union.
Collette Kleynhans, the widow of one of the victims, attended the demonstration.
Nqakula comes under fire
AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said: "We think it's important for us to be here to ask the court to give the most-severe sentence possible.
"We believe the people responsible for these crimes should be removed from society."
Demonstrators held placards stating "Stop the murders", "Lives are more important than money" and "Where's Nqakula's plan?".
Kriel said Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula must accept responsibility for not meeting crime-reduction targets.
- SAPA