The trial of a 37-year old former meat processor accused of stabbing a colleague to death in a butchery had to be put on hold after his lawyer’s offices in Cape Road were vandalised at the weekend.
Defence attorney Danie Gouws told the Gqeberha high court on Monday he had been unable to consult his client as a result of the disruption caused by the incident.
Gouws said the water pipes on the outside the building had been stolen, and the doors and gates had been broken, requiring his immediate attention.
His client, Lucien Plaatjies, had pleaded not guilty last week to the January 14 2021 murder of Nkululo Mini, who had worked with him at the Merino Butchery in Crawford Street, North End.
It is alleged on the day of the incident Plaatjies and Mini had become embroiled in an argument about Plaatjies’ girlfriend, Natasha Panganie, who also worked at Merino at the time.
According to court documents, the verbal altercation turned violent, but co-workers stepped in to stop it from escalating.
Once they had all returned to their respective work stations, Plaatjies allegedly grabbed a knife and stabbed Mini repeatedly.
Co-workers again intervened and managed to get Plaatjies away from Mini, but the latter was declared dead at the scene.
A postmortem determined the cause of death to be stab wounds to his left thigh and left upper back.
Plaatjies was arrested on the scene and later released on bail.
Gouws asked for the matter to be postponed to allow him time to consult properly with Plaatjies.
The case was postponed to Tuesday.
