The boyfriend of murdered Sibongile Hadebe will appear again at Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court on Monday 28 July in connection with her murder.
Sibongile Hadebe’s charred body was found at an illegal dumping site between Section 15 and Extension 4 in Mamelodi East a few months ago.
Back then members of the community pleaded with the community to arrest the boyfriend but the police dilly-dallied in this regard, citing “further investigation” as the reason for not arresting the boyfriend.
The boyfriend, who is 28 years old, was eventually arrested this past Thursday and appeared at the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court on Friday on a charge of murdering his girlfriend Sibongile Hadebe.
Several members of the community of Extension 4 gathered outside the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court in protest, demanding that the boyfriend must not be granted bail and threatened that should he be granted bail then they as members of the community will kill him.
Community member Jabulani Musi told Tshwane Talks outside the court that as members of the community they have always suspected that the boyfriend was responsible for the murder of Sibongile Hadebe in June this year but the police hesitated in arresting him.
“As members of the community we are very angry and are calling upon the judiciary not to grant the boyfriend bail, we have witnesses in the community who can attest to the boyfriend’s abusive behaviour towards Sibongile Hadebe and we are saying the boyfriend is no longer welcomed in the community of Extension 4 and he (the boyfriend) knows how the community of Extension 4 operates with regards to crimes of this nature, and releasing him won’t be a great move on the part of the judiciary,” he said.
“The community is very angry because Sibongile Hadebe was killed and burnt down by this boyfriend of hers; this is a tragic death and some of her body parts are still missing today and at the moment members of the community of Extension 4 are scared as this kind of incident can happen to anyone of them at any time,” he said.
“We are appealing to the Magistrate who is presiding over this case to do his job diligently and make sure that this case proceeds speedily and that the suspect gets sentenced to a jail term before the end of the year,” said Musi.
“The suspect has murdered Sibongile Hadebe brutally and he doesn’t deserve to live among our community any longer and doesn’t deserve to be granted bail, and we want the justice process to be fast-tracked so that we can get closure as the community and also that the punishment that should be meted out to the culprit should serve as a deterrent to other would-be perpetrators and we want the culprit to get what he deserves, namely being charged and convicted of murder,” said a concerned member of the community of Extension 4.
“An eye for an eye, the suspect must not be granted bail and if he is granted bail then we as the community will have to kill him,” said a lady resident of Extension 4.
“We are parents and don’t want to see what happened to Sibongile Hadebe happening to our children,” she said.
Sibongile Hadebe’s brother Sphamandla Hadebe told Tshwane Talks that as the family they have received DNA test results and that his sister would be buried on Saturday 26 July, and that for now they were focusing on the funeral and will deal with the court case later.
“We are still reeling in shock as the community regarding the murder of Sibongile Hadebe because we never expected such an incident to happen in our area and we are relieved that the suspect has been apprehended by the police, and we are here at the court to support the Hadebe siblings like we have been doing since their sister was murdered a few months ago and we will continue to support them all the way,” said Ward Councillor Collen Marishane outside the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court.
“The case has been postponed to 28 July for the legal representative for the accused person,” said Mamelodi magistrates court Senior prosecutor Anne Marie Benndamn.