Man held after pub death
2005-08-03 08:51
Port Elizabeth - Police arrested a man on Tuesday who allegedly beat Johannes Geyer to death outside a bar in the city over the weekend.
The 38-year-old suspect was arrested at about 12:00 on Tuesday at his house in Algoa Park and was charged with murdering Geyer.
Geyer, who was earlier himself accused of beating a friend to death, died outside The Old Barn at Hunter's Rest at about 04:00 on Saturday morning.
Police said Geyer and the suspect came to blows outside the bar. Geyer died on the scene and the suspect fled.
Sergeant Tembi Gwe, police spokesperson, said police are not searching for any other suspects.
Gwe said an eyewitness saw the man, who was arrested on Tuesday, when he hit Geyer with his fist.
The eyewitness contacted the Kabega Park detectives, who are investigating the case, with this information.
The suspect was held overnight in the Mount Avenue police station since the Kabega Park police cells are not functional because of construction work at the police station. The suspect will appear in the local magistrate's court on Wednesday and Gwe said the State planned to oppose bail.
Before his death, Geyer appeared in court several times for the death of his prosecutor friend, Ian McCance.
Geyer was initially charged in March last year with assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm after he and McCance had a fist fight outside the Wedgwood golf club over a pool game bet.
After this fight, Geyer took McCance to a hospital where McCance was kept alive on life-support for a number of days after he was declared brain dead.
After McCance died, the case against Geyer was referred to the public prosecutor who withdrew the charge against Geyer and ordered a judicial inquest into McCance's death. The investigation, which has not been completed yet, would have determined whether Geyer should be charged with culpable homicide.