All 42 men accused of the attack at the Modise church have been granted R5,000 bail each by the Westonaria magistrate’s court.
Magistrate Gavin Pillay said the state’s case so far was weak as it had failed to provide certain basic evidence which could link the accused to the killing of five people at the International Pentecostal Holiness Church . Pillay said the state had failed to link the accused with the firearms that the police confiscated on the day of the attack. He said it was disturbing that the investigating officer, Sergt George Maditse, could not link any of the firearms to the accused.
Pillay ruled that the state also failed to prove that the accused had common purpose of attacking the IPHC headquarters. He pointed out that evidence before the court showed that the accused who were not arrested at the church were travelling in a BMW M5 and Toyota Quantum. The accused, Pillay ruled, were not “armed to the teeth” as the firearms were in the BMW M5 and not carried by each individual. “If they were really planning to attack the church, they could have distributed the firearms when they met at BP garage before heading for the church,” Pillay said.
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