A close relative who stands accused of murdering magistrate Romay van Rooyen abandoned his bail application at the Simon’s Town Magistrates Court on Thursday 6 October.
Dressed in a black and grey hoodie Cassidy Hartzenberg (18) smiled at his family, who sat in the front row of the public gallery, before court proceedings.
The teenager is accused of murdering Van Rooyen at her home in Marina da Gama on 10 September.
On Thursday, the court heard that the accused would be abandoning his bail application and remain in custody for further investigation.
Outside court National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson in the Western Cape, Eric Ntabazalila, said they welcomed the suspect’s decision to abandon bail as they believe he would be a danger to witnesses.
“It was a short appearance and the legal representatives of the accused advised us during the course of the week that he was abandoning his bail. It is something we welcomed because we would have opposed bail anyway as we believed there would have been a slim chance for him to have been granted bail.
“The case has now been postponed to (Tuesday) 8 November for further investigation.”
Ntabazalila further added that the state planned to oppose bail on the grounds that the accused may intimidate witnesses.
“We believed that he may influence or harm the witnesses, so it was on that basis that we felt a strong possibility for us to be successful in opposing his bail application.”
Meanwhile, the teen’s family declined to comment on the matter.
