Armed response officer’s murder: bail hearing postponed

IN LINE OF DUTY: Nitrous armed response officer Roderick Erasmus was shot dead on December 27
IN LINE OF DUTY: Nitrous armed response officer Roderick Erasmus was shot dead on December 27
Image: Supplied

The formal bail application of four men accused of the December murder of Nitrous armed response officer Roderick Erasmus was postponed in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Thursday to allow the state to prepare for the matter.

Erasmus, 49, was shot dead outside a shop in Greenbushes after he responded to an alarm triggered when six men entered the store in Greenbushes Road.

Two of the men, Unathi Adam, 33, and Sandile Blaauw, 38, were arrested in the early hours of January 2 after a tip-off to police.

Mandilakhe Mjungulu, 28, and Luxolo Peni, 24, were arrested on January 6 after police followed up on information about the men in a shack in Izinyoka, KwaDwesi, who had firearms.

The fifth accused, Lungisa Peni, 24, was arrested at the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on January 10 when he appeared on an unrelated drug-possession charge.

Since his first appearance, Blaauw has abandoned his formal bail application.

His case is expected to be heard on February 26.

On Thursday, prosecutor Melani Hammett asked for the matter to be postponed to January 23 to allow the state time to prepare after Peni’s first appearance in court on January 13.

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