The three men charged with the attempted murder and kidnapping of a Klapmuts boy who was tortured appeared in the Paarl Regional Court on Thursday.
Nathan Niewenhuis, Justin Limco and Zane Marthinus stood with heads bowed as the magistrate read them their rights and asked them about the legal presentation.
“You are charged with attempted murder and kidnapping. The Incident transpired in Klapmuts on 24 January.
“Attempted murder can be penalised as such of murder and can result in a life sentence.”
Marthinus appointed a private attorney while the others opted for Legal Aid.
The trio were nabbed after a video of a 9-year-old boy being tortured by electrocution emerged on social media.
His wrists were tied to a metal saw while a man used jumper cables connected to a car battery to shock him. The child was also placed upside down in a wheelie which was filled with water using a hosepipe.
The boy was accused of stealing R600.
The case was postponed to May 17 as the defence discusses whether the trio should allow the media to take their pictures or not.
The State prosecutor argued: “Their faces were shown in the video that has been widespread and I have no objection to the media taking videos or pictures in court.
“And I sent the docket back to the magistrates’ court because the person who took the video, in my opinion, should have also been arrested with the accused.”
The boy’s 24-year-old mom didn’t go into the courtroom, but said she will welcome a swift conviction.
“My son is coping in school and he doesn’t complain anymore of bullying. He’s more focused now. I don’t talk about the incident to him anymore because I don’t want to remind him of what happened.
“If I was a magistrate I would have convicted them already, they shouldn’t come back to our community.”
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za