The trial of a notorious Cape Flats couple accused of hiding their murder suspect son in a cupboard has been postponed to next year.
After being issued with a final postponement in September, Moegsien and Juleiga Haywood arrived at Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on Thursday ready to plead, but proceedings were brought to a halt as there were no magistrates available to preside over the case.
After spending several months in the mang for allegedly orchestrating a plan to bust his son, Ziyaad, out of prison using AK47 rifles and hand grenades, Moegsien smiled and hugged his wife, Juleiga, in the dock, wearing a pink salaah top and white doekie.
The couple are charged with harbouring a fugitive after they allegedly hid their son who was wanted for a string of murders and armed robberies.
Ziyaad, who was dubbed the “closet killer”, went on the run in November 2016 and was ranked among the top 10 most wanted criminals in the Western Cape after an alleged robbery and murder spree that spanned more than two years.
He managed to evade police for years, but was caught hiding in a cupboard in his parents’ room in July 2018 by wakker Grassy Park cops who became suspicious of the locked cupboard and broke it open.
The couple was later released on R2000 bail, but Moegsien was back in the mang earlier this year after the Hawks caught him in a sting operation in which he allegedly tried to purchase grenades, explosives and AK47 rifles.
The matter was postponed to 21 January 2020.