WATCH | Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, son of Robert Mugabe, appears in court on attempted murder charges

The lawyer for Robert Mugabe’s son, who was arrested in Johannesburg over the shooting of agardener, says some of the additional charges against his clients still have to be investigated, as they only heard about them on Monday morning. Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabeand co-accused Tobias Mugabe Matonhdze were initially charged with attempted murder after theshootingat their Hyde Park mansion on Thursday morning. They appeared in the Alexandra magistrate’s court on Monday, where charges of defeating the ends of justice and possession of a firearm were added.

Their lawyer, Sinenhlanhla Mnguni, said the defence team did not know much about the additional charges. “We can’t speak too much on that [additional charges] at this stage. “It’s something that’s only just been brought to our attention and we still need to get instructions from our clients, as the prosecution stated that the investigation is still ongoing.

WATCH | Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, son of Robert Mugabe, appears in court on attempted murder charges.pic.twitter.com/nmpkHVbsYf “So we are still waiting on those to be finalised,” he said. The additional charges stem from Bellarmine allegedly initially refusing to open the gates for police to enter the premises. Police could also not find the firearm used in the shooting despite attempting to question the suspects, who allegedly refused to speak to them.

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They had to bring in sniffer dogs to help in the search but still did not find the weapon. The matter was intended to be heard before 10am, however, due to an erroneous decision made by the police that sent the two accused to the Randburg magistrate’s court, it started late. Arriving after 11am, Bellarmine appeared confused when he was asked to stand in the dock and instead walked past it and stood with the lawyers.

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