Africa-Press – South-Africa. Arnold Terblanche’s appeal against his bail ruling was dismissed in the Gqeberha High Court today, March 8.
Terblanche, who is one of the accused in the murder of his estranged wife, Vicki Terblanche, was denied bail by Magistrate Kriban Pillay in the Gqeberha Magistrates Court in January this year.
The 55-year-old immediately appealed this ruling, once again arguing that him being granted bail would be in the interest of his minor son that he shared with Vicki.
Terblanche’s main argument centered around the fact that he was the 12-year-old boy’s primary caregiver and is concerned about his son’s psychological wellbeing.
During the appeal judgement, Judge Glen Goosen said that a court of appeal will not lightly interfere with a trial court’s exercise of its discretion in relation to bail. He added that the determination of what constitutes exceptional circumstances, which in the interest of justice warrants the release of an accused, involves a value judgement. It relates to the discretion exercised by the court considering bail.
“In relation to these two critical aspects, the magistrate made a value judgement in deciding that having regard to the nature and gravity of the offences and the appellant’s personal circumstances, the circumstances relied upon by him were not as such to entitle him to release in the interest of justice,” Goosen said.
“In coming to this conclusion, a discretion was exercised. I am not persuaded that it was wrongly exercised. There is, in my view, no basis to find that the court a quo (the court from which an appeal was taken) was wrong or wrongly exercised its discretion,” he added.
He also said that an onus is cast upon an accused by Section 60 (11). The accused must satisfy the court that exceptional circumstances exist, which in the interest of justice, require their release on bail.
“Insofar as the findings above are concerned, the court a quo was correct to find that the onus had not been discharged.”
Terblanche and his co-accused, Vicki’s boyfriend, Reinhardt Leach (32) and Dylan Cullis (24) face several charges after Vicki’s body was found in a shallow grave in Greenbushes in October 2021.
They will be appearing in the Gqeberha Magistrate’s Court again on March 28.
ICYMI | Arnold Terblanche remains behind bars – bail denied by court
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