Family members and friends of the victims Mahmudel Sajid and Mzikayise Paulos Mabida protested outside court. From left: Paul Deepchand Harilal, Vishnu Gengan, Yasseen Yusuf, and Patrick van Schalwyk. A 33-YEAR-OLD SARS tax consultant has been denied bail after being accused of the execution-style murders of a barber and his gardener.
The magistrate ruled Wasim Kudoos failed to prove exceptional circumstances warranting his release, citing the ‘marksman-like’ nature of the killings where both victims were shot in the head. If convicted, Kudoos faces double life imprisonment. During his bailjudgement in the Chatsworth Magistrate’s Court today (Wednesday), Magistrate S Chiliza said both victims were shot in the head, which was the character of a marksman shooting.
“This makes the applicant a dangerous person,” she said. Kudoos, 33, of Mobeni Heights, has charged for the murder of his gardener, Mzikayise Paulos Mabida, 54, and a barber, Mahmudel Sajid, 38. Sajid was killed at his salon in Summerfield Road, in Bayview and Mabida in the driveway of Kudoos’s home on October 8.
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Chiliza said Kudoos failed to prove that exceptional circumstances warranted his release on bail. “The applicant (Kudoos) failed to deal with the fact that he will not abscond from dealing with his trial. He stated that he has family ties and ties to the community of Durban, and therefore he would not have a reason to abscond from his trial.
“The respondent and the State agreed that this was a Schedule 6 bail application and that the interest of justice permits his release on bail. If he fails this test, then there is no need for the second part of the test. “The State argued that personal circumstances are not exceptional circumstances. The applicant referred to his personal circumstances, being that he was the caregiver to his sick mother, he was the breadwinner, and that he had suffered a loss of income,” Chiliza said.
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