THE MERCURY
Some of the lawyers representing the five young men accused of the murder of British rugby fan Brett Williams. They are (from bottom left) Christo van Schalkwyk, Jacques Botha, Paul Jorgensen, Johan Jooste, Willie Lombard and (slightly obscured) Malcolm Lutge. Standing behind Lombard is Raneshan Naidoo. Photo: Jacques Naude
Durban – While four of the five men accused of the murder of British rugby fan Brett Williams will be spending the next few nights behind bars, their lawyers will be trawling Durban looking for 25 look-alikes who are prepared to take part in an identity parade line-up on Monday.
Lawyers representing the men, who are all between 23 and 25, confirmed after their brief court appearance on Thursday that the State had asked them to find people for the line-up.
While “unorthodox”, they had agreed to speed up the holding of the parade and their clients’ chance of freedom.
Only one of the five was released on bail on Thursday.
It was a long day of waiting for relatives – some of whom wept and prayed – and a large media contingent before the five young men, who are all from Durban suburbs including Glenwood and Umbilo, came up from the cells just after lunch.
The earlier part of the day was taken up by argument over whether or not the media could photograph and name them, with argument by prosecutor Krishen Shah that this would jeopardise the investigation.
The defence lawyers disagreed, saying their names and faces were “all over social media” and the ruling would serve no purpose.
Advocate Paul Jorgensen said the State had brought the application to “sterilise” the identity parade.
“Practically speaking, the names are out there,” he said, to which the prosecutor responded: “Well, I hadn’t seen them before seeing the docket earlier today.
“It doesn’t follow that every witness would have gone on a wild goose chase on the internet to look for pictures of them,” he said.
Magistrate Vanitha Armu ruled that the men could not be photographed or named but she was expected to relax this condition on Monday.
The attack on Williams, a former Royal Marine visiting Durban, took place after the Sharks-Rebels game at Kings Park Stadium on March 23.
Although police indicated early on that they had identified the alleged attackers, the five men only handed themselves over, by arrangement, on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and have been in custody at Durban North police cells since then. According to the charge sheet, four of the five are charged with Williams’s murder and three counts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm relating to assaults on security guards and crimen injuria for “racial slurs” uttered.
The fifth accused, a 23-year-old man who lives at home with his parents, girlfriend and new baby, is, at this stage, only charged with an assault on Williams and crimen injuria.
For this reason, prosecutor Shah said, the State was not opposed to bail being granted in the amount of R2 000, although the charges might change after the identity parade.
Shah told the court there had been two incidents that night and this accused had only been involved in the first.
“It would appear that it was during the first incident that a piece of jewellery became misplaced and the four remaining accused then came to his aid and took part in the second attack.”
The magistrate suggested imposing a bail condition that he not be allowed to enter Kings Park Stadium but decided against it after questioning the investigating officer Warrant Officer AB Pillay, who said he had not been asked by stadium management for this and he did not think it necessary.
Shah said when the men next appeared on Monday the state would have a firm opinion on whether or not to oppose bail.
Even if the state did not oppose bail, the men would have to present some evidence because they were facing serious charges and bore the onus to show that it was in the interests of justice for them to be released.
Johan Jooste, attorney for the man who got bail, confirmed it had been paid and his client had gone home.
Malcolm Lutge, who acts for another of the men, said his client’s family was devastated.
“They are also very sorry for the victim. As parents they understand what his family must be going through.”
*On Thursday night, Sharks spokeswoman Novashni Chetty said that none of the accused had yet been banned from Kings Park.
Asked about accused number 5, who has been released on bail, she said: “We urge him not to come through to the stadium. It would be insensitive of him to do so.”
The Mercury
