Trial of two accused in Jeffreys Bay murder to resume on Monday

The trial of two men accused of the brutal April 2017 murder of a Jeffreys Bay man is expected to resume in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Monday.

The matter was postponed a number of times during the national lockdown.

It is expected that retired Humansdorp magistrate Floris van Zyl and the investigating officer in the matter, Warrant Officer Bennett Atties, will testify on behalf of the state.

Remeo Booysen, 21, and Renaldo Kamoetoe, 27, face charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances after they allegedly attacked Jonathan Zane Hayward, 29, outside Club Beachfront in Jeffreys Bay on April 29 2017.

Hayward’s badly beaten body was found later that day about 90m from Club Beachfront near a bottle store in Pellsrus.

Booysen and Kamoetoe were arrested the next day.

Both men have pleaded not guilty.

Earlier in the trial, acting judge Olav Ronaasen ruled that a statement taken from Booysen by Van Zyl was admissible after a trial-within-a-trial was held, but Ronaasen ordered that it would not form part of the record until Van Zyl read it out in court.

Van Zyl had taken a statement from Booysen on May 2 2017, after he was arrested in connection with the murder of Hayward.

According to prosecutor Garth Baartman, at the time of the January postponement Van Zyl was receiving medical treatment while Atties was out of the province testifying in another matter.

Ronaasen said he was dismayed about having to postpone the matter and instructed Baartman to subpoena Atties to ensure his presence at the next court date which had since been set down for March 30.

But President Cyril Ramamphosa declared a state of disaster on March 15 amid the Covid-19 pandemic which meant the case could not go ahead.