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David Simelane wants out of jail

20/10/2011 00:00:00 LINDA JELE

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MBABANE – Serial killer David Simelane wants to be released from prison and is seeking bail to make this possible.

A highly-placed source has told this publication that Simelane, who was sentenced to hang last year, wants to be granted bail pending his appeal. He was sentenced to hang and given life imprisonment by High Court Judge Jacobus Annandale. However, he filed an appeal through his lawyer Mduduzi Mabila.

This publication has it in good authority that bail papers have already been prepared and only await Simelane’s signature before being filed before the High Court.

This publication last week reported that Simelane’s appeal would not be heard during the appeal court session this November because the record of proceedings of his trial has not been transcribed. The source said Simelane feels he would be prejudiced by the failure to have his appeal heard now, as this means he has to wait until May 2012, which is the next appeal court session.

"He feels that he has the prospects of success in his appeal, hence he may be granted bail pending the appeal," the source said.

Simelane was convicted on 28 counts of murder and acquitted on five counts. He had been charged with the murder of 34 women and children between 1999 and 2001, after their bodies were found in forests around the country.

Efforts to get hold of attorney Mabila to comment on the matter hit a snag as he did not answer his mobile phone when called several times yesterday. When contacted on his office number, his secretary said he was off sick since Tuesday.

Simelane, in his grounds of appeal said the High Court erred in convicting him based on allegations that he voluntarily pointed out the places at which he was said to have dumped the victims. He also challenged the court’s view that he made a voluntary confession to the murders. He argued that he made the confession under duress and he challenged the Crown during trial at the High Court.

Simelane has spent over 11 years behind bars following his arrest in Nhlangano in 2001. His trial commenced in 2004 and it was finally completed last year after the sacking of his erstwhile lawyer Lucky Howe, who was accused of delaying the matter. The trial saw a number of key witnesses die before completion.

Senior Superintendent Khethokwakhe Ndlangamandla died when he had covered a lot of ground in his evidence. Others who have since died include police officer Jomo Mavuso and several other Crown witnesses.

Comments

Kantsi how many times can a person apply for bail? Government must stop fooling the nation. There's a smelly dead rat in this whole David Simelane case. There's a deliberate attempt to set him free. They should dare set him free and this country will burn. Why has he still not been hanged? Government should stop these delaying tactics!
Oct 20, 2011, 7:06 AM, Lobusika Dlamini

Indeed there is something fishy in ths whole saga..But before afe we want to know the whole truth..Ngubani lona bekatfume Davide?
Oct 20, 2011, 8:28 AM, Lastmile (last_m@yahoo.co.uk)

Concerned about the ethics of the justice system I agree with the above comment that setting David free is not a good stance for Swaziland to follow. David Simelane has been torturing the families of his victims for years and setting him free means that there is no justice in Swaziland. How could he apply for bail, in all essence he has exhausted his opportunities of leaving prison by depriving others their right to live. Swaziland does not need a man like him roaming around the land, we ought to be protected and being a country of safety and security he threatens this. Further the notion on hanging him, well although many would be happy to see him die but two wrongs dont make a right, Swaziland is a country governed by Christian morals and as the issue of an eye for an eye was overuled by the issue of slapping one side and offering the other cheek, now in the case of David Simelane hanging him is too much, as the death penalty would mean a lot for Swaziland, my learned friends would agree. Therefore he should be left to live in prison and not be allowed out.
Oct 20, 2011, 8:28 AM, nombuso ngwenya (nombusongwenya@yahoo.com)

Just imagine sekayodla i KFC nawo wonkhe muntfu, no way! phela this person has proved that he is inhuman so he must stay locked up mine nje i would'nt like ugibela i bus naye lomunftu lona.
Oct 20, 2011, 11:14 AM, Concerned Adult! (mpumievougas@yahoo.com)

With all due respect to His Lordship, I sincerely believe he erred both in fact and law...Simelane's charges either stood or fell on a confession, one that was challenged as involuntary by his counsel. HOW then can his Lordship acquit and also convict on some charges based on the very same one confession (involuntary). His Lordship out to have conducted a trial within a trial so as to determine the legality of the challenged confession so as to buttress his reasoning on the acquittal and committal of the accused on some charges wherence they all stood or fell on one confession. Indeed Simelane has high prospects of success on appeal.
Oct 20, 2011, 11:36 AM, ske. mavuso (sakhilemavuso@yahoo.com)

Asenimnike le chance,maybe there is something langasita live ngako waSimelane
Oct 20, 2011, 12:17 PM, kitso (mduduziv4@gmail.com)

Thank you very much my learned friend. As far as the Swazi nation is concerned, we wouldn't like such a cow among us. Let them grant him the bail, we will not hesitate to put him where he belongs ngoba umtsetfo has failed. Loosing a loved one is no joke and to make things worse the one who committed the offence laughs while conducting his evidence. Lona wadlala ngatsi and he made people seem foolish because he enjoyed every moment he slaughtered our mothers. Dare they grant him bail, the world will have to know about this.
Oct 20, 2011, 12:17 PM, maybongwe (maybongwe@hotmail.com)

Simelane’s conviction and sentence stands until overturned by the Supreme Court. As his appeal case is pending before the Supreme Court, his matter thus remains subjudice. We are responding to the story of his alleged application for bail only as a news item. Otherwise we cannot get into the merits and/or demerits of the points of law that have a bearing on either confirmation of his conviction and sentence or dismissal of his appeal. What ought to have happened during the course of trial leading to the conviction has been overtaken by events. If the defence counsels did not apply for a trial within a trial, that's it. Again, we do not want to pre-empt the Supreme Court's decision by speculating about what it is likely to be. Whether we wish Simelane good luck with his appeal or we wish the Supreme Court zaps him, is not for anybody outside the due process of law to say. For anyone who has respect for the law and the decisions of the courts of the land - the man remains a convict until the law decides otherwise.
Oct 20, 2011, 12:17 PM, law abiding citizen

Tell me he is joking, if not utsi asibetsele bani? Baraba wasitwa ngu jesu. Just rot in jail!
Oct 20, 2011, 3:29 PM, angela (bmasekwane@gmail.com)

Lamhlabeni things happen, people David akanikwe another chance, we really need him kulesimo live lelikuso, he can be an asset.
Oct 20, 2011, 3:29 PM, Lucky (ntulil98@yahoo.com)