Magistrate Marlene Marais is expected to deliver her judgment on the matter in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court, following months of delayed bail proceedings. The accused, businessman Stanley Bakili; Bayswater Detective Molebatsi Mogoera; and Court orderly Kagiso Chabane are each facing charges that include murder and extortion. Prosecutor Johan De Nysschen has indicated that the state opposes bail for all the accused. 

The last of these officials to testify was Free State police crime analyst, Karin Jacobs, who testified last year December and was cross-examined by the defence on Friday, January 25.

Jacobs alluded to some of the evidence that investigating officers have gathered against the accused of late in her testimony. This includes CCTV footage - notably footage from Preller Square where Siemens worked and was gunned down - as well as cellphone records, hired vehicles and the statement of the state’s key witness convicted murderer, Xolisile Mbebetho. Mbebetho pleaded guilty to being one of the assassins in the Free State High Court in November and is currently serving 22 years in prison at an undisclosed location for his protection. 

The defence has attempted to dismiss Jacobs’ assertions by alleging that she is biased and that she based her analysis on circumstantial, not tangible evidence.

After Marais delivers her judgment on alleged repeat offender and accused number five in the case, 29-year-old Mojalefa Jali Molusi, who was arrested in Phase 2 on Wednesday, January 9, is set to appear in the same courthouse the day after judgment for bail is delivered. 

Molusi has been placed at the murder scene by authorities on the day that Siemens was murdered in the basement parking area of Preller Square in broad daylight.

OFM News