Two of the three men suspected of the murder of Hillary Gardee are expected to apply for bail when they appear at the Nelspruit magistrate’s court on Wednesday.
Philemon Lukhele and Albert Gama were arrested in Mpumalanga days before the funeral of Hillary early in May.
Hillary, the 28-year-old daughter of former EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee, went missing on April 28 while shopping with her three-year-old adopted child at a plaza in Nelspruit. The toddler was safely reunited with the family later in the day.
Five days after her disappearance, Hillary’s body was found dumped in an open veld outside Nelspruit, 60km from where she disappeared. Her lifeless body was spotted by a group of people going to work.
The family later said that she had sustained a gunshot wound to the head.
On Tuesday, accused number one Sipho Mkhatshwa continued his bail application with the investigating officer, Colonel Thamsanqa Mkhaliphi, on the stand.
Mkhaliphi told the court that the state should oppose Mkhatshwa’s bail, citing allegations that a plot has been hatched to kill one of the witnesses.
The three suspects face charges of conspiracy to commit murder, murder, rape and kidnapping, among others.
Early in July, the Gardee family filed an urgent application at the high court in Pretoria to compel the police to speed up the arrest of other people suspected to have been responsible for the kidnapping and murder of their child.
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