Gardee accused asks to be sent to Gauteng prison as he fears for his life

The fourth suspect in the Hillary Gardee murder case has asked to be sent to the Modderbee Prison in Gauteng for his safety as he feared for his life.

Through his legal aid lawyer Hlabirwa Rasie Nkuna said his life had been threatened in the Barberton Maximum Prison in Mpumalanga and asked to be moved to the facility in Benoni on the East Rand. 

Nkuna, Albert Gama, Philemon Lukhele and Sipho Mkhatshwa appeared together for the first time on Friday since Nkuna's arrest last month.

The state had been expected to hand over the indictment to the accused in the Nelspruit magistrate's court on Friday. 

However, state prosecutor Adv Thobeka Phungula told the court that due to the pending bail application by Gama, the state sought a postponement. 

"Through agreement with the defence, the state is asking for a postponement to the 16th of September for the indictment to be ready. This is due to pending bail application for accused number three (Gama)," said Phungula. 

Gama's bail application was postponed to September 13.

Defence lawyer for Lukhele and Gama Adv Ncobizitha Mlilo asked the court to make the postponement, for having over the indictment, an order. 

Eric Mashele who represents Nkuna agreed with Mlilo.

"I also ask that the postponement be made an order. Again your worship, accused four is requesting that he be moved to Gauteng for safety reasons. 

"He indicated to me that the state at in which he finds himself in the Barberton Prison [as] there were things that [were happening] to him. 

"Due to [the] lengthy postponement, the accused, for safety reasons, requests that he be moved to Benoni... The accused is in Barberton because of the distance for this case," said Mashele.

Phungula responded, saying Nkuna was actually serving a sentence and the decision to move him to Gauteng lies with the department of correctional services. 

Nkuna, a parolee, is serving a four-year sentence after he broke his parole conditions by committing another crime while on parole. 

Gama, Lukhele, Sipho Mkhatshwa and Nkuna have been charged with kidnapping, rape and murder. 

Gardee, the daughter of former EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee, went missing on April 29 while shopping in town with her adopted three-year-old daughter.

The child was later that day dropped off at Umnenke Street at KaMaGugu, where they resided. 

Gardee’s lifeless body with stab wounds, boot prints and a gunshot wound was found by timber plantation workers on May 3, about 60km outside Mbombela, towards Sabie.

Mkhatshwa has been denied bail while Nkuna and Lukhele abandoned their bail applications. 

Nkuna has been linked to the killings of three other women, including one from Midrand, Johannesburg, whom he met on Facebook. The killing happened last month.

He has also been accused of killing his girlfriend Pretty Mazibuko and her cop sister Marcia in Kanyamazane, Mbombela, on May 15 – just 12 days after Gardee’s body was found.

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