Lawyers representing four men accused of raping and killing teenager Franziska Blochliger have criticised prosecutors for not sharing their clients’ case dockets.
Suspects Jerome Moses, Daniel Easter, Jonathan Jonas and Howard Oliver briefly appeared at the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
The four face charges of murder, rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances for the murder of 16-year-old Franziska in March this year.
The Muizenberg teen was found dead and robbed of her cellphone after she went jogging by herself in the Tokai forest.
Franziska was meant to meet her mother after her jog but when she did not arrive at the agreed meeting place, her family began to worry.
A post-mortem found Franziska had been strangled, suffocated and sustained blunt-force trauma.
Yesterday prosecutors indicated they were ready to transfer the matter to the Western Cape High Court for trial, but defence lawyers objected, stating that they first needed to study the docket before the matter can be moved.
Lawyer Monique Carstens loudly protested the fact that the docket was not at court and that they had not seen it.
Magistrate Xoliswa Ndoyona then ordered the state to hand over copies of the docket in the next two weeks before the suspects are due back in court.
Moses and Easter, who are both out on bail, looked relaxed next to their co-accused who are still in custody after abandoning bail.
Magistrate Ndoyona postponed the matter to August 15 for the docket.