State to bring audio and visual evidence against Govender brothers on Shailen Singh murder
The State in the murder case of Durban businessman Shailen Singh intends to produce video, audio and visual evidence against the Govender brothers accused of killing Singh on December 29, 2024.
Singh was gunned down in Umhlanga while he was in his vehicle.
This was revealed at the Durban Magistrates Court on Tuesday during Ferrel and Darren Govender's bail application, which is under schedule six of the Criminal Procedure Act.
The Govenders own a security company Pro Secure. During court proceedings, the State said that Ferrel claimed he has no protection order or harassment order against him but they would bring evidence that says otherwise.
In pleading to get bail Ferrel’s attorney Ravindra Maniklall read his affidavit. Ferrel said he intends to plead not guilty for the murder of Singh. He said after his first court appearance an identity parade was done and the State’s only eye witness did not point him as a shooter or identify him as someone who was at the scene on December 29.
He said before an identity parade was done his name and pictures were widely circulated in print and digital media. “Despite that, the State’s eye witness did not point to me as a shooter,” he said.
Ferrel said he has a wife and three children who depend on him as the breadwinner.
“My three minor children are still in school while the third has matriculated. I’m self-employed with various business interests,” he said.
He said he manages all his businesses including that of construction with a hands-on approach and if he is incarcerated, no one will be able to run them. He said he has more than 3000 employees who would be affected should he not get bail.
Moreover, he said it was in the interest of justice for him to get bail because the country has a high rate of unemployment and a lot of people are dependent on him. Ferrel said he had donated R1.5 million to charity.
He said he had declared all his assets and financial documents from the financial institutions.
Advocate Christo Van Schalkwyk SC, counsel for Darren read his affidavit. Darren said there was no likelihood that he would endanger anyone should he get bail. He said he would not escape trial as he wanted to clear his name. He said he was a co-manager at Pro Secure which has a national footprint.
“I have a valid passport which I surrender to the SAPS,” he said.
He said he had provided the PINs of his cellphone to the police. Darren said he has three children and a wife that are dependent on him. He said he has no previous convictions or pending trials.
Things took a sharp turn when control prosecutor Seema Reddy made an application for the matter to be postponed to Friday because the State needed to consolidate its affidavit and bring evidence regarding domestic violence against Ferrel.
She also said that the investigating officer (IO) is also investigating the murder case of rapper Kiernan AKA Forbes and his Chef friend Tebello Tibz Motsoane, and would not be available on Wednesday.
She said they had not had a chance to consult with the IO since they received the affidavit late yesterday. She further asked for the court to give them time to gather evidence and they would be ready to proceed.
This debate took close to an hour with the defence opposing the request saying the clients had been detained for 14 days. Certain laws were quoted with each legal representative supporting their argument with Magistrate K. Broughton patiently listening and asking questions here and there.
The State's senior public prosecutor Nkululeko Msiya pleaded with the court to allow the state to present the best case it can in order for the court to be able to make its decision.
“It is now a dialogue and I don’t want to go back and forth with the court as if I am disrespecting it. We don’t want to submit incomplete evidence. We will abide by what the court is saying because we are not here to frustrate the court,” he said.
After the back and forth it was agreed that the matter continue on Wednesday morning. The brothers will be detained at the Durban Central police station.
nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za