The family of single mother Shenice Jonathan were overjoyed on Thursday when her alleged killer was denied bail in the magistrate’s court in Gqeberha on Thursday. .
In her judgment, magistrate Fiona Bosman found that Quinton Scheepers, 20, had shown no exceptional circumstances to permit his release, adding that it would not be in the interests of justice to do so.
“The personal circumstances of [Scheepers] are commonplace,” Bosman said.
Scheepers brought the application for bail after he was arrested on August 26, more than a year after Jonathan’s mutilated body was discovered by a passerby in a field near Thornton Street, Schauderville, on August 8 2020.
A postmortem revealed she had been stabbed at least 47 times and had been partially decapitated.
Scheepers has been charged with premeditated murder.
Investigating officer Detective Warrant Officer Neil Hendricks’ investigation allegedly placed him at the scene on the day of the murder.
In his testimony, Hendricks told the court he had further statements which put Scheepers at the same scene a few days before the murder where he and another person allegedly assaulted Jonathan.
The state claims the murder was an act of gender-based violence.
Bosman said in her judgment the onus to prove that the state’s case was weak lay with Scheepers, who had failed to do so.
“[Scheepers] could have testified [during the bail application] and presented an alibi, but he chose not to,” she said.
She dismissed Scheepers’ claim that he was innocent because of his actions, in that he had presented himself to the police the day after Jonathan’s body was found and willingly gave a DNA sample to detectives.
“The actions of [Scheepers] are not a show of innocence,” Bosman said.
During the bail application, Scheepers’ uncle, Melvin, testified that he would allow his nephew to live with him at his home should he be released on bail, which Bosman found disingenuous after a petition was signed by more than 500 people opposing bail.
The petition included a signature by a relative of Scheepers living at the same house that his uncle had offered as a place for Scheepers to stay.
“Scheepers’ own relative who is staying with [Melvin] is against his release on bail,” Bosman said.
Speaking after the ruling, Jonathan’s brother, Shervargo, 39, said he had not attended court on Thursday in fear that Scheepers might have been released.
“I didn’t attend because I would have been furious if [Scheepers] had been released on bail and I don’t know what I would have done,” he said.
Happy with the outcome, Shervargo said he was grateful his sister’s alleged killer would remain behind bars.
“All I can say is hallelujah, thank God for that,” he said.
The matter was postponed to October 21, when a date will be set for Scheepers to appear in the regional court.
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