Durban — After spending nearly a year behind bars having been refused bail, a police officer charged with the murder of his mother was making a second attempt at a bid for release on bail.
KwaDabeka Constable Lungisani Xaba is alleged to have assaulted his mother Greta Xaba, 70, with a wooden plank with nails in it on May 6 last year in KwaDabeka, just outside Pinetown.
Xaba was arrested on May 7 in KwaDabeka for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. However, the charge was changed to murder on May 8 after his mother died.
He remains behind bars after having been refused bail previously by magistrate Wendalynn Robinson in July in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court.
Xaba is now in a move to apply for bail based on new facts. This emerged in January from his new counsel, Nosizwe Bantwana, in court.
On Wednesday, Xaba appeared in court where his bail application was meant to proceed. However, Bantwana told the court that the defence had encountered a predicament that caused her to request the adjournment.
“When we first brought the application this issue came up. In fact, it came up on the day we were meant to proceed. It called for the investigating officer’s involvement. The person that we needed to provide the information was unavailable. Now, confirmation of this issue only came to me today,” said Bantwana, who didn’t explain what the issue was.
She assured the court that on the next occasion, the defence would be in a position to proceed with the bail application.
“This has been a situation that is beyond my control as we had a third party to wait for. I humbly request an adjournment, because now we have the information that we needed and it will be added onto the bail. Then we will be in a position to proceed.”
The bail application was adjourned for later in March.
Xaba’s murder case has been trial ready and has been transferred to the regional court for such. The trial dates have been set down for July 7 to 10.
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