Suspect fears for his life
2003-08-04 16:09
Pretoria - Three men appeared in the Temba magistrate's court on Monday in connection with the hijacking and murder of three members of a Pretoria family last week, SABC reported.
It said one of the accused, Joseph Mohlala, called his other two alleged accomplices "murderers" during the brief appearance.
He also asked the court to be separated from the two, Godfrey Mkhabela and Lucky Baloyi, because he was afraid they would kill him.
Mohlala, Mkhabela and Baloyi are all residents of Stinkwater near Hammanskraal.
The case was postponed to August 18 for further investigation.
The three men, all in their 20s, were apprehended in Stinkwater in the North West on Friday night.
The arrests followed the hijacking of Janine Drennen, 24, her one-year-old baby daughter Kayla, and her fiance's mother Hester Rawstone, 52, in Sunnyside, Pretoria.
The hijackers shot Rawstone in the neck and dumped her body at the corner of Soutpansberg and Hebron roads in the suburb of Riviera.
They then drove to Stinkwater near Hammanskraal, where they kidnapped a teenage girl. They raped Drenner and the girl, then shot them both and the baby Kayla.
The teenaged girl survived and was admitted to Jubilee Hospital, said Sebola. Drenner and the baby were killed.
- SAPA