A man accused of murdering four Pakistanis living in Mitchells Plain has a “propensity to commit crime”, the court heard.
|||Cape Town - A self-confessed member of the 26s prison gang, accused of murdering four Pakistani men living in Mitchells Plain, has a “propensity to commit crime”, an advocate for the Director of Public Prosecutions has submitted in court.
Prosecutor Cannon Gusha revealed in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday that Mogamat Nasief de Villiers, 43, of Wynberg had been arrested for multiple cases over the past five years.
Each year since 2008, De Villiers had been arrested for aggravated robbery, pointing of a firearm, hijacking, robbery or housebreaking. While he confirmed that he had been arrested, he pointed out that he had not been convicted of the crimes.
“It’s never me. If it was me, I should’ve been in C-Max Prison already,” De Villiers said.
He confirmed, however, that he had one previous conviction for the illegal possession of drugs in 2008.
De Villiers and two co-accused, Yazeed Hendricks, 41, and Lehano Jansen, 28, both of Lentegeur, are accused of storming into a bakery distribution point in Rocklands on March 19 and killing four men.
Shahzad Ahmad, 39, Ghulam Baqar, 23, Adnan Haider, 23, and Shafique Muhammad, 42, were gunned down after a dispute over a lucrative bread deal.
The trio have been charged with murder, attempted murder, and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, among other charges.
Only De Villiers and Hendricks appeared in the dock yesterday. Jansen, who abandoned his bail bid earlier, appeared via video link from Pollsmoor Prison.
Gusha told the court that the State was opposing bail because the two were a danger to society, would evade their trial, intimidate witnesses and destroy evidence if freed.
But De Villiers said he wanted to be released on bail so that he could look after his children aged 16 and three, and receive better treatment for asthma and for suspected colon cancer.
When his advocate, Omar Arend, asked where De Villiers lived he refused to state his address, rather writing it down for court officials.
Gusha asked De Villiers why he did not want to reveal his address. He responded: “Because sometimes in South Africa you get ignorant people when they can’t get hold of me they threaten my family.”
He claimed he was once hijacked by the “Japanese Mafia” who demanded a $1 million (R10m) ransom from his family. “My family are people with money. The Dirk family, Najwa Petersen, that’s my family,” he said.
Petersen was sentenced in 2009 to 28 years in jail for the contract killing of her husband, musician Taliep Petersen, three years earlier.
De Villiers said he was a member of the Junky Funky Kids when he was a teenager and had to be part of the 26s for his safety, to ensure he could get a warm shower and eat food that his family brought him in prison.
Hendricks’s bail application starts today.
jade.otto@inl.co.za
Cape Argus
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