A court ordered that a bullet be removed from the pelvis of one of the men accused of killing four Pakistanis.
|||Cape Town - One of the men accused of murdering four Pakistanis at a bakery distribution point run from a home in Rocklands, shot himself in the pelvis during the attack, the State has told the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court.
On Monday, magistrate Walter Golding granted an order compelling Yazeed Hendricks, 41, of Lentegeur to undergo surgery to remove the bullet.
As part of the order, police are entitled to use “necessary force” to transport Hendricks to hospital and help doctors prepare him for surgery.
And if Hendricks does not consent to surgery, Golding authorised the sheriff of Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court to sign the consenting documents on his behalf.
Police have arrested and charged three men in connection with last Tuesday’s shooting in which Shafique Muhammad, 42, Adnan Haider, 23, Ghulam Baqar, 23, and Shahzad Ahmad, 39, where killed. Asif Nadeem and an unnamed man survived the shooting. Nadeem is in hospital.
Pakistanis living in Mitchells Plain alleged the murders were a hit organised by a rival businessman.
The first suspect, Lehano Jasen, 28, of Lentegeur appeared in court on Friday. His case was postponed so that an identity parade could be held.
On Monday, Hendricks and Mogamat de Villiers, 43 of Wynberg appeared in court for their alleged roles in the shooting.
Prosecutor Leticia du Plessis brought an application on Monday for a court order to force Hendricks to allow doctors to remove the bullet.
She said Hendricks had been implicated in a theft of a motor vehicle but that he was also linked to the murder.
“Accused three (Hendricks) was also at the murder scene and in the rush to get away from the scene, he accidentally shot himself in the pelvis.”
Once the bullet is in the State’s possession it can be sent for forensic analysis to determine whether it is linked to the crime.
Hendricks’s lawyer, Dillon Frank, unsuccessfully opposed the application. Frank did not deny that the projectile was inside his client’s body but denied that he was linked to the crime.
Hendricks is being kept at the hospital section at Pollsmoor.
The accused are due to appear in court again on April 10.
Meanwhile, about 200 Pakistani men, supported by immigrants from other parts of Africa and Asia, marched on Parliament on Monday in protest against an “epidemic” of murder and violence.
Nadeem’s family has not yet informed him of the deaths of his friends.
On Monday, the bodies of the four men were loaded on to an aircraft bound for Islamabad, where they will be buried.
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daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus