Pretoria High Court dismisses Fannie Nkosi’s bail appeal
· Citizen
The Pretoria High Court has ruled that the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court was correct in dismissing Sergeant Fannie Nkosi’s bail application.
Nkosi returned to the High Court on Wednesday to appeal the decision of the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court to deny him bail. On 22 April, magistrate Thandi Theledi ruled that Nkosi had failed to prove he would not pose a danger to others, evade prosecution, or interfere with the investigation and witnesses.
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He was arrested by the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry task team on Thursday, 2 April, following his testimony and a raid at his home in Pretoria. Nkosi faces charges including defeating the ends of justice, possession of illegal ammunition and explosives and theft.
‘Magistrate was wrong’
On Tuesday, 26 May, advocate Hendrik Potgieter, for Nkosi, argued that the magistrate was wrong in her findings in respect of the facts and the law. He said the high court was in a position to interfere with those findings.
The state previously argued that Nkosi might attempt to interfere with evidence, police, administrative systems, case documents or exhibits. However, Potgieter argued that the state did not provide the bail court with any substantive reasons for the probability or likelihood of any of those.
Judge Mokhine Mosopa and advocate Potgieter further argued about the ammunition allegedly found in Nkosi’s house during the raid.
“Why does he have to keep such a large amount of ammunition relating to the R5 rifle in his house? It doesn’t end there; only five [out of 62] of the ammunition found there were found to be police-issued. It means the rest were not police-issued,” commented the judge.
“With the number of firearms that the appellant has registered to his name, 400 rounds of ammunition is not a large quantity. He’s a licensed gun owner. The firearms and ammunition were seized by the police; they’re no longer in his possession. So, the reason that he would place society in danger does not exist any more because they were taken by the police,” Potgieter said.
Another case against Nkosi
While still in custody earlier this month, the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry’s Recommendations Investigative Task Team brought additional charges of defeating and obstructing the course of justice against Nkosi.
The State alleges that on 10 November 2022, a suspect was arrested for possession of dagga, unlicensed firearms and explosives.
Following the arrest, Nkosi allegedly fetched the original case docket under the pretence that he had been sent by the head office. A few months later, he allegedly returned to Thohoyandou, identified himself as a colonel from head office and removed the confiscated dagga from police custody.
He booked the exhibit at the head office, but it was later discovered that one of the exhibit bags containing the dagga had allegedly been tampered with.
The state now seeks to combine the two cases and will return to court on 22 July for this matter.
Nkosi has denied all charges against him, declaring that the state has a “weak” case.