Overview
- - The Alexandra court, which sat Friday, postponed sentencing to Wednesday, 29 April, with the missing firearm flagged as a key unresolved issue.
- - Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe pleaded guilty to pointing a firearm and violating South Africa’s immigration laws, while Tobias Matonhodze admitted attempted murder and related charges.
- - Investigators told the court the victim, 23-year-old Sipho Mahlangu, received R250,000 and was promised a further R150,000, described in testimony as a bid to keep him quiet.
- - Defence lawyer Laurance Hodes urged a suspended, non-custodial sentence citing months already spent in custody and willingness to pay fines or further compensation, as the state pressed for harsher penalties.
- - Police said the gun used at the Mugabe Hyde Park home in February has not been found and that the accused have not helped locate it, after arrests on 19 February kept both men in custody and drew intense public interest.