KZN murder accused trio abandon bail
Three alleged Hollywood gang members from Wentworth, accused of killing two rivals, have abandoned their bail bids.
|||Durban - Three alleged gang members from Wentworth, accused of killing an alleged rival gang member and drug dealer, abandoned their bail application on Wednesday.
Cairn Gardiner, 18, Walljee Jodaine, 18, and Wenzil Jacobs, 27, said to be from the Hollywood gang in Wentworth were arrested by a Hawks task team, set up to investigate gang-related violence in Wentworth, together with Crime Intelligence and the K9 Unit, on November 11.
The police had received a tip off the men were hiding out in a flat in Hime Street in Wentworth.
The trio are charged with killing 23-year-old Craig Sam on November 7 at the Hime Street Flats, and with four counts of attempted murder.
It is alleged the three men had jumped over a wall while Sam was chatting with his friends on the flat’s staircase. They apparently ran towards Sam who is said to have run away and was shot at until he fell in the parking area.
According to the police, this was not the first attempt on Sam’s life.
Sam, said to be a member of the rival HFC gang, had two pending murder cases against him. It is believed he had killed the leader of the Hollywood gang.
The State, including the Hawks investigating officer Detective Sergeant Carlton Thomas, were opposed to bail. Thomas had prepared an affidavit detailing some of the youngsters’s previous convictions and pending cases.
Gardiner was out on bail on a charge of attempted murder and Jacobs had been out on parole after serving four years of an eight-year prison sentence for murder, at the time of their arrests. Jacobs was also said to have a rape charge pending against him. Jodaine does not have any pending cases or previous convictions.
The matter was set down in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, for a bail application, however the trio’s attorney, Ridewaan Sayed, had decided to abandon the application.
The men are being held at Westville Prison until their next court appearance in January.
Inside court, Sam’s family and friends were present wearing T-shirts with his photograph on it. Family and friends of the three were also present.
noelene.barbeau@inl.co.za
Daily News
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