File picture
DURBAN - A gardener who has been behind bars since May following his arrest for robbery after his employer allegedly recognised his voice had his bail reduced in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
It is alleged that the gardener, Lungisani Wiseman Nzama, 19, after he and an accomplice had finished the robbery at his employer’s home, uttered the words “goodbye, madam”. His employer recognised his voice, which led to his arrest.
Nzama appeared in court charged with robbery with aggravating circumstances where he indicated that he could not afford the R3,000 bail amount set for him, adding that he could afford R1,500.
His Legal Aid attorney then made an application for bail reduction, which was granted by the magistrate.
Facts of the matter in the case were that Nzama allegedly assaulted Dawn Michelle Melville in her Kloof home on May 15 and several items, including a 55-inch TV, a cellphone, camera, sub-woofer and the woman’s bank card, were stolen.
Nzama was arrested on May 24.
On June 6, Nzama made his formal bail application before the court. The investigating officer, Detective Warrant Officer Sfiso Mbambo, explained that on the day of the robbery the complainant had been sleeping when two unknown suspects intruded into her bedroom after breaking into the house.
“They gained entry through the bedroom window. The suspects had a bush knife as well as a knife that they used to rob the complainant … As the suspects were leaving one of them shouted ‘goodbye, madam’. The complainant managed to recognise the voice as that of her gardener, Wiseman Nzama. The value of the stolen items is estimated at R35,000. The accused was arrested at KK hostel in KwaDabeka, where all the stolen items were recovered from him,” the officer had said.
Mbambo at the time had told the court that he was opposed to the accused being granted bail.
“The accused is a flight risk since he is a hostel dweller and his mother refused to have him by her place, expounding that the accused is a problematic child.”
The court, however, granted Nzama bail.
The case was adjourned to September 5 for a decision on transfer to the regional court, which is the trial court.