The Strand man accused of slitting his girlfriend’s throat claims that he didn't do it.
This was revealed in the Strand Regional Court on Wednesday as Charles Appolis made yet another appearance, 500 days after Nadia Lotz was murdered.
Appolis allegedly slit her throat while the two were driving in a car with a friend on 4 March 2023.
During court proceedings, Appolis was once again without a legal representative.
This is despite being previously warned by the magistrate that the trial will start whether or not he had a new lawyer by Wednesday.
However Appolis told the court that his family didn't come visit him to discuss his legal representation.
He previously fired a private attorney as well as several legal aid lawyers.
“I request another postponement of your worship. My family didn't come to visit me, so I'm waiting for them so that they can appoint someone to defend me until the end,” he said.
He then claimed that he didn’t kill Nadia, saying that there were ‘other people’ involved.
He said: “I was the one who reported the case, where are the other people? I was told to take a plea bargain (by a previous attorney), why, must I do that? It will mean that I did the thing, I refused to take it. I can't stand for anything I didn't do.”
The magistrate denied his request for more time and said that he had enough time to sort out his defence as the case had been running for 18 months.
However, with no suitable date available, the case had to be postponed to 19 February 2025 for the trial to officially commence.
Before exiting the courtroom, Appolis turned around and smirked at Nadia’s family.
Nadia’s cousin, Sylvia Scheepers, said that Appolis had been taking the court for a joke as he kept firing his lawyers.
“He said he didn't kill Nadia, but it was him. I'm tired of this man,” she said.