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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau

The trial of three Zimbabwean men commonly known as ‘Omalayitsha’ and a South African woman facing 62 counts including murder, rape, robbery, extortion and assault among other violent crimes committed against fellow countrymen in the neighbouring country, opened at the South Gauteng High Court on Monday.

 The four cross-border transporters are accused of kidnapping more than 100 Zimbabweans and killing several others including two Harare women. Charles Cecil Brewer (36), alias Boss of Nketa 7 in Bulawayo, his South African wife, Madida Petition Sicelo (30) alias Sister, Jaheni ‘Satan’ Luphahla (28) of Old Lobengula in Bulawayo and Phathumuzi ‘KK’ Sibanda (27) of Emakhandeni in Bulawayo are accused of committing the offences between 30 May and 11 July last year.

 They have been languishing in remand prison since their arrest in July 2015 and were denied bail at the Thembisa magistrate court in Johannesburg before the matter was transferred to a higher court. The matter has been dragging on as the accused struggled to get a lawyer after dumping the state’s free legal practitioners. The trial dispensed with a testimony from one witness and is expected

to continue Tuesday.