Durban — The murder case of a KwaDabeka police constable is now trial-ready.
Constable Lungisani Xaba is charged with the murder of his mother Greta Xaba, 70, and he is alleged to have assaulted the woman with a wooden plank with nails in it on May 6 in KwaDabeka, just outside Pinetown.
On the previous occasion when he appeared in court it was indicated by the State that the docket would be sent for a decision by the regional court prosecutor.
The State was armed with evidence in the form of DNA relating to the exhibit allegedly used to inflict injuries on the deceased, a report from a handwriting expert as well as witness statements, evidence from the scene, and a post-mortem report.
In court on Friday, the State said that Xaba’s matter was now ready to be transferred to the regional court.
“Regional Court two is the trial court that will deal with your matter from now onwards,” said magistrate Wendalynn Robinson when she adjourned the matter to next week.
Xaba was arrested on May 7 in KwaDabeka for alleged assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm; however the charge was changed to murder on May 8 after Xaba’s mother died. He remains behind bars after having been refused bail previously by magistrate Robinson in July.
One of the reasons that she cited in refusing Xaba bail was that the investigating officer had told the court that Xaba was familiar with some of the state’s witnesses and allegedly the testimony they were expected to give; however in his affidavit he was adamant that he did not know the witnesses.
At the time of his bail application, the court heard how on the day of the assault on Xaba’s mother a witness in the matter went to the KwaDabeka police station to report that the elderly woman was being assaulted.
Further, it’s alleged that when police arrived they found Xaba and his mother inside the house and she had serious injuries.
Meanwhile, the trial of a man alleged to have chopped his wife to pieces with an angle grinder last year in the Mkhazini area, KwaMakhutha, south of Durban was set to begin on Monday in the Durban High Court.
Sibusiso Bongekhaya Mvubu is alleged to have killed his wife Philisiwe Judith Mvubu. The State also asserts that the murder was premeditated or pre-planned. When news of the attack broke, the provincial Department of Social Development said that Philisiwe Mvubu had recently informed her sister about the alleged abuse she had suffered for six years in her marriage.
The brutal murder sent shock waves through the province, so much so that communities united and picketed outside the Umbumbulu Magistrate’s Court where Mvubu made his first appearance, calling for an end to the scourge of gender-based violence and for Mvubu to be denied bail.
Daily News
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