These are the faces of the men who allegedly beat and burnt to death Bolt driver, Abongile Mafalala, in Parkwood last week.
Yuven Nawat, Bradley Murphy, Carlton Williams and Ashwin Tifflon made their first appearance in the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on Monday after being busted by Grassy Park police after the vicious attack.
They were remanded in custody and sent to Pollsmoor Prison until their next appearance for a bail application.
The mob attack on Abongile sent shockwaves through Cape Town after videos of it went viral.
It showed over 100 residents mercilessly beating the 31-year-old driver from Dunoon amid false accusations that he had tried to kidnap two girls.
During the attack, skollies were seen stripping Mafalala’s Toyota Avanza as others stabbed him and placed a tyre around his neck before dousing him with petrol and setting him alight.
Station commander, Colonel Dawood Laing, says investigators used the videos to hunt down the killers.
“The videos helped to identify the perpetrators.
“Initially we arrested 14 people of which nine people are [charged] for murder, three for theft out of motor vehicle and two for malicious damage to property.”
During court proceedings, it was revealed that the state had only charged five of the suspects but indicated that more arrests were imminent.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila says: “Nathan Leeman, Yuven Nawat, Bradley Murphy, Carlton Williams and Ashwin Tifflon appeared at the court charged with murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and malicious damage to property.
“Their case was postponed to next Monday for bail information, for the docket to be sent to the DPP office to determine if an advocate will be appointed for the case and for some of the accused to get private attorneys.
“The court was advised that more arrests are going to be made.”
According to a source, cops have videos showing Murphy doing the stabbing, Williams hitting Mafalala with a pole and Tifflon bashing him with a spade.
On Sunday, Parkwood residents held a prayer meeting where they asked for forgiveness but Mafalala’s girlfriend, Zandile Maweza, was unmoved and labelled them as racists as he was a black man in a coloured community.
Speaking outside court, she told the Daily Voice: “I don’t want to say anything [about the vigil], they do whatever they do for themselves.
“We didn’t want to be part of it because that won’t bring Abongile back. The way that they killed him, burning him with tyres even though they see he is dead already...
“They even robbed him of his takkies, jeans and phones. It’s racism.”