Raafiq Abrahams stands accused of stabbing Sulaiman Brey inside his Wynberg store after a botched robbery in 2002.
|||Cape Town - Relatives of Sulaiman Brey are anxiously awaiting the outcome of a plea agreement that a Kenwyn man is expected to enter into for murdering the businessman 11 years ago.
Raafiq Abrahams, 25, stands accused of stabbing Brey, 63, inside his Wittebome Superette in Wynberg after a botched robbery on November 13, 2002.
Abrahams was on the run for more than a decade but in December came forward and confessed to Brey’s murder, saying that he had been just 14 at the time.
Brey’s daughter, Fowzia Sonday, and other relatives were at the Wynberg Regional Court on Tuesday when Abrahams was expected to strike a plea and sentence agreement with the State. But it did not go ahead because Abrahams’s lawyer, Milton de la Harpe, wanted to go through the probation officer’s report with his client first.
“We assumed the case would come to head today (Tuesday)… It becomes tiresome for one to be sitting there and you don’t know whether it will be done but… we are happy it will take place next week,” Sonday said.
De la Harpe explained in court that he had only received the probation officer’s report late on Monday. An address also needed to be verified before the plea and sentence agreement could be signed off.
Abrahams has been charged with murder and aggravated robbery and has indicated that he wants to plead guilty.
De la Harpe asked that the case be postponed for a week. Prosecutor Waldo Müller did not object.
Magistrate Gavin du Plessis postponed the case to next Friday.
jade.otto@inl.co.za
Cape Argus