Club killing: Death threats for accused
A man alleged to have shot and killed a bouncer at a nightclub in Menlyn Piazza, fears for his life after receiving threats.
|||Pretoria - A 24-year-old man alleged to have shot and killed a bouncer, 37, at a nightclub in Menlyn Piazza, fears for his life after receiving threats from unknown persons.
The man appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court for a formal bail application after he handed himself over at the Brooklyn police on Tuesday morning.
In an affidavit read out by his attorney Kineil Muthray the accused said he had been out with friends when a group of drunk men started harassing and groping their female friends.
“I asked the men to stop bothering my female friends. That’s when we got into an altercation and I fell to the ground. Then the bouncers came to kick us out. It seemed the group of men were familiar to the owner or manager who told the bouncers to teach us a lesson,” read the affidavit.
“The bouncers were kicking and assaulting us despite other people trying to assist us. I heard a bang sound and I got up and left to seek medical attention for myself,” read Muthray.
The man alleges he was informed by friends that the police were looking for him and he later received a phone call from the investigating officer informing him that he was a suspect.
“After speaking to the officer I went to hand myself over.
“An identity parade was held at Lyttelton police station and I was not identified in the line-up,” he said.
Muthray said the man had fully co-operated with the investigating team and intended to plead not guilty to the charge of murder.
Prosecutor Ike Mkhabela said the State did not oppose bail. Makhabela read out the affidavit by the investigating officer which said the State had witnesses who reported to have seen a man fitting the man’s description shooting in the direction of the bouncers on the night in question.
“We are not opposing bail but we request that measures be put in place so as to monitor his conduct while out on bail,” said Mkhabela.
The incident was said to have taken place outside the Thundr nightclub formerly known as Ty’s in the early hours of Sunday morning.
A feud was said to have erupted between a group of seven and a bouncer trying to calm the situation.
The bouncer was shot in the upper body during the scuffle and declared dead on the spot by paramedics.
Police initially took in a 19-year-old man for questioning but he was later released after the 24-year-old man handed himself over.
The man was granted R5 000 bail and the matter was postponed to June 23 while police investigations continue.
Muthray asked that the man’s name and identity not be revealed as he had received death threats from unknown individuals.
goitsemang.tlhabye@inl.co.za
Pretoria News