Crowd 'frees' eight accused
2006-08-15 16:30
White River - A public gallery erupted in outrage when suspected vigilantes were denied bail and physically carried the eight men out of the court to freedom.
The men are implicated in the murder of three others who were beaten and set alight last week when a kangaroo court found them guilty of theft.
Chanting people in the public gallery broke the court's entrance doors while physically carrying the eight men shoulder-high out of KaBokweni courthouse near White River in Mpumalanga on Monday.
The two court orderlies were powerless against the crowd.
No idea crowd would get violent
Magistrate Sheila Msibi immediately issued warrants of arrest for the sprung suspects.
KaBokweni station commissioner Johan Truter admitted the police had been caught off-guard.
"There was no indication that the crowd would turn violent," he said on Tuesday.
"They were well-behaved when they arrived in the morning, and we thought it was going to be another uneventful day. But, we were mistaken."
He said people would not be allowed to dictate to the courts how matters should be handled and that police expected to make arrests soon.
He said two of the eight who were sprung handed themselves in on Monday afternoon.
The eight are implicated in the murders of Frans Maluka, Eric Sambo and Patrick Sigudla on August 9.
They were tried and executed on a flat rock on an empty erf.
Police found the charred bodies, still bound with wire and lying next to each other.
Not asked to plead
Nearby was a fridge they were accused of stealing, as well as a 9mm pistol that is believed to have belonged to one of the three men.
Two days later, police arrested eight suspects. They were Phillip Dladla, Kenneth Ronald Mkhonto, Sipho Vusi Ngomane, Bruce Ngobeni, Musa Moses Nyalunga, Simanga Johan Masilela, December Dladla and Samson Alex Ngomane.
They have not been asked to plead to three murders and the case was postponed to August 22, without bail, before the crowd erupted.