Pieter Groenewald and his son Stephan who were arrested for allegedly assaulting their security guard employee Veneruru Kavari, were denied bail by the Groblersdal Magistrate's Court.
The two allegedly assaulted the employee, 30-year-old Kavari on January 17, before unleashing a dog on him after he was suspected of being drunk at work.
Kavari had joined the Groenewalds’ security company a few days earlier.
“This court finds that it will not be in the interest of justice that the two applicants be released on bail, and therefore the application that they be released on bail is dismissed,” Magistrate Bongi Mashele ruled on Monday.
The magistrate found that there was possibility that the Groenewalds would interfere with witnesses, as some of the witnesses to be brought to testify during the trial are working for the Groenewald father and son.
The court also found that Pieter Groenewald is also likely to commit crime, if released on bail, because he has previously been convicted and sentenced for violent crime.
“He has a previous conviction of murder which happened and the 1990s but he was convicted around 2002 or 2003. He was sentenced to 20 years,” Mashele outlined.
“He also has another one for attempted murder and thereafter released on parole under supervision until 2022. When this court checks it, parole is part of one’s sentence. When one is on parole, he is still serving his sentence. From 2022 till now it is only two years and he has now committed another violent offence.”
The prosecution team lead by advocate Faith Raselomane told the packed court that Pieter Groenewald was like to evade trial by leaving South Africa if released on bail.
The court heard that after committing the 1990 murder, Pieter Groenewald, a former member of the SA Defence Force fled South Africa and went to live in Portugal after he was granted bail. He was only re-arrested 12 years upon his return to South Africa.
During the 2002 conviction, the Pretoria court sentenced Pieter Groenewald to 20 years in jail for the double murder of Simon Koba and Prince Makena. He was also sentenced on attempted murder for attacking Xavier Lekgoate, reportedly in a road rage incident.
In January 2010, IOL reported that the High Court in Pretoria had ordered the immediate release of the double killer Pieter Groenewald, seven years after he was jailed for 20 years for a roadside attack on three men – Koba, Makena and Lekgoate.
During the trial, he claimed he had acted in self defence because he feared he was being attacked by Umkhonto we Sizwe operatives.
In the current matter of attempted murder on Kavari, the Groblersdal court has also heard that Stephan has a pending attempted murder case which was provisionally withdrawn pending a ballistic report.
Meanwhile, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Limpopo which opposed the release of the duo, has welcomed the outcome of the bail application.
“We are indeed satisfied with the judgement … bail was denied. The court has mentioned that the applicants can interfere with State witness,”said Limpopo NPA spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi.
“Evidence was given in court that the complainant was taken from here in Groblersdal and taken to Middelburg using the vehicle of the applicants (the Groenewalds) and then brought back in Groblersdal,” Malabi-Dzhangi said.
“The person driving the car instructed him to go to the police station to make a statement that he was not kidnapped. These are some of the things that have happened.”
The matter was remanded to March 11.
IOL