UPDATE ON TRIAL OF THREE BLACKS accused of double murder of elderly Belfast couple Koffie and Elma van Heerden:
aUGUST 27 2014 - Three 'freezer-murders" suspects change plea from guilty to not guilty: on trial for murdering Afrikaans couple Koffie and Elna van Heerden 9 Jan 2013.
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The trial of the three black 'freezer-murder' suspects in the High Court, charged with murdering elderly Afrikaans couple Koffie and Elna van Heerden on 9 January 2013, has been postponed to 9 September 2014. The attorney of accused Bongani Joseph Ncongwane 23 now has also withdrawn from the case, citing 'ethical reasons' -- shortly after the defence attorney of co-accused Sibusiso Charles Sibanyoni 27 also withdrew his legal services.On trial are Ncongwane, Sibanyoni and Sibusiso Charles Sibanyoni 27. Ncongwane's first advocate withdrew after the accused man changed his plea from guilty to not guilty, 'due to pressure from his two co-accused', reported Beeld daily afrikaans paper. Before he changed his plea to not guilty, Ncongwane had delivered blood-chilling testimony about the double-murders committed on the night of 8 to 9 January 2013, during which the elderly Afrikaans couple were assaulted, stranged and then dumped in a freezer in their home in Fitzgerald Street. Ncongwane testified that they went to the Van Heerden home on the 'insistence' of fellow-accused Nkosi, who was known to the couple.
Ncongwane testified that both old people had suffocated inside the freezer - because they were still alive when the three accused men fled from the murder-house.No reasons were supplied to the High Court for the withdrawal of Sibanyoni's advocate. All three remain in custody.
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HISTORY:
Elderly Belfast couple Koffie and Elma van Heerden, strangled and dumped in freezer, Belfast, Wed Jan 9 2013:
elderly retired Afrikaner land-surveyor was strangled to death with his wife's bra. She also was strangled. The killers then dumped the couple in a freezer and locked it.
http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/middelburg/middelburg-news-crime?oid=6729119&sn=Detail&pid=4979902&EKSKLUSIEF--Polisie-ontdek-bejaardes-se-liggame-in-vrieskas
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