No-show for murder accused Junior Blue Bulls player’s legal counsel at bail application
|Published
File Picture: TUT student murder suspect Ngcebo Thusi appears in the magistrate’s court for bail hearing. Picture: Jacques Naude/African News Agency(ANA)
Pretoria - Junior Blue Bulls player Ngcebo Thusi was left to fend for himself in the Pretoria Magistrates Court earlier today after his legal counsel was a no-show.
Thusi, 23, was due to apply for bail; however, he stood as a lone figure in the dock, informing the court that it had been a few weeks since he had heard from his legal counsel.
This was not the first time that Thusi's attempt to apply for bail was thwarted as he appeared earlier this month but had to be turned back after the court experienced trouble with its recording machines.
While the court informed Thusi that his matter would be rolled over to the next month, he pleaded with the magistrate to allow his bail application also be heard on the same day or the following day.
The magistrate tried to explain to the junior player that the court would be unable to schedule a date for a bail application in the absence of his legal counsel.
He is appearing on charges of murder and defeating the administration of justice for the alleged murder of Tshwane University of Technology's 21-year-old third-year Integrated Communication student, Nthokozo Xaba.
Xaba was found dead in her room at Ekhaya Junction in Pretoria Gardens with stab wounds on her neck on February 2.
Thusi was arrested after the police discovered that he was the last person to be seen with Xaba at her student residence, Ekhaya Junction, in Pretoria Gardens.
He was requested to inform his legal counsel to come to court on June 1 to schedule his next bid to be released on bail.
Thusi will be back in court on June 2 as well for the murder case against him after it was postponed from March 30 to June 2 for further investigations.
The Star