Breaking: More trouble for Mugabe’s Son Bellarmine
The lawyer for Robert Mugabe’s son, who was arrested in Johannesburg over the shooting of a gardener, says some of the additional charges against his clients still have to be investigated, as they only heard about them on Monday morning.
Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe and co-accused Tobias Mugabe Matonhdze were initially charged with attempted murder after the shooting at their Hyde Park mansion on Thursday morning.
They appeared in the Alexandra magistrate’s court on Monday, where charges of defeating the ends of justice and possession of a firearm were added.
Their lawyer, Sinenhlanhla Mnguni, said the defence team did not know much about the additional charges.
“We can’t speak too much on that [additional charges] at this stage.
“It’s something that’s only just been brought to our attention and we still need to get instructions from our clients, as the prosecution stated that the investigation is still ongoing.
“So we are still waiting on those to be finalised,” he said.
The additional charges stem from Bellarmine allegedly initially refusing to open the gates for police to enter the premises.
Police could also not find the firearm used in the shooting despite attempting to question the suspects, who allegedly refused to speak to them. They had to bring in sniffer dogs to help in the search but still did not find the weapon.
The matter was intended to be heard before 10am, however, due to an erroneous decision made by the police that sent the two accused to the Randburg magistrate’s court, it started late.
Arriving after 11am, Bellarmine appeared confused when he was asked to stand in the dock and instead walked past it and stood with the lawyers.
“Seems like there was a degree of confusion with regard to where they were meant to be, but that problem emanated from the police station where they were being held,” said Mnguni.
“They were sent to the Randburg magistrate’s court instead of the Alexandra magistrate’s court, and of course, the magistrate wasn’t too pleased about that, but they were ultimately brought before court.”
Mnguni said the bail application was postponed, as the state needs to verify information on the accused.
“They (police) still need to approach the department of home affairs and other agencies to verify a number of things incidental to the statuses of the accused.
“Of course, we can’t really go too deep into that because we don’t know the nature of what was stated in court, what the nature of those enquiries is.
“So yeah, I think we’re just allowing them at this stage to continue with their investigations,” he said.
Media reports said Bellarmine had fainted three times in police custody on Thursday after his arrest, allegedly due to epilepsy, and close friends had to fetch his medication.
However, Mnguni and another defence team member, Jason Saus, could not comment on his health.
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