‘Rapist’ holy ou’s possible plea bargain
|Published
FACING 15 CHARGES: Keith Bird from M.Plain. Photo: SUPPLIED FACING 15 CHARGES: Keith Bird from M.Plain. Photo: SUPPLIED
A Mitchells Plain pastor facing 15 charges including five rapes and two murders is deciding whether he wants to enter into a plea agreement with the State.
Keith Bird also allegedly made sex tapes of his victims whom he apparently lured using social media.
Bird strolled into a packed courtroom at the Cape High Court on Monday wearing a golf shirt for the start of his trial.
State prosecutor, Maresa Engelbrecht, informed the court a plea sentence agreement had been drafted but that it would only be finalised later.
Judge Yahya John Hlophe postponed the matter to 11 March and then reprimanded Bird for wearing his blue T-shirt, casual pants and sloffies to court.
“When you appear before me you don’t show your arms. Dress properly,” he said.
“You are an accused, show respect for the court. You can wear a jacket.”
Bird, 51, is also facing two counts of intimidation and crimen injuria and the distribution of pornography involving young women.
Bird’s suspected modus operandi was either to lure his victims via Facebook or MXit where he would gain the trust of young women who were in need of a job.
He was a pastor in Tafelsig and also worked as a supervisor, sub-contracting for the City of Cape Town to clean streets.
He allegedly filmed himself having intercourse with a female colleague in October 2013.
Bird’s two alleged murder victims are Aniesa Bardien, 36, his estranged girlfriend, who was found dead in Strandfontein in 2013, and Sharvonne Koense, 20, who was strangled and raped and her body found dumped along bushes in Baden Powell Drive, Tafelsig in 2013.