The legal status in South Africa of a 25-year-old Mozambican man arrested in connection with the murder of Warrick “DJ Warras” Stock, and questions surrounding his identity and address, came under the spotlight when he made his first appearance at the Johannesburg magistrate’s court on Monday. Armindo Pacula was arrested at the Marathon informal settlement in Primrose at about 8pm on Saturday, during a crime intelligence and Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) takedown. Pacula appeared in a courtroom filled with heavily armed EMPD officers.
He faces multiple charges that include premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit murder and contravention of the immigration act. During the proceedings, state prosecutor Vincent Mochabela questioned the validity of Pacula’s identity, arising from the difficulty officers had in obtaining a passport or proof of address from him. Mochabela then said verification processes would have to be completed before the matter could proceed.
“At this stage, your worship, the court asks for a remand. His co-accused is appearing on the 11th, so we’d like to have them appear together, and so we’d like for it to be remanded to then for address verification and legality, because at this stage we have nothing to verify. There is no passport which has been handed to us or asylum seeker [papers],” he said.
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The court could not proceed with a bail application. However, Pacula’s legal aid lawyer said he was nevertheless still keen to make an application. “The address that he [Pacula] has given is not clear, and there is no indication that he has lawful documentation to be in SA, but he still says that he wants to apply for a bail application,” said the lawyer.
Pacula is facing the possibility of a life sentence should he be convicted. He is the second accused in the DJ Warras matter after the arrest of Victor Majola, who was recently denied bail.
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