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Cape Town – One of the men accused of murdering Cape Town mother Zarah-Jane Hector was denied bail when he appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
Tawfeeq Ibrahim, 26, was denied bail and told he would spend the rest of his trial behind bars with his co-accused Ronaldo van Rooyen, 34, who did not apply for bail.
The two are accused of killing Hector last month by beating her to death with a hammer in Van Rooyen’s garage.
The State said the men wanted to steal the BMW Z3 Hector was driving because she allegedly owned Van Rooyen "a lot of money”.
Ibrahim said this in a statement he gave to police after his arrest.
Ibrahim refused to comment when prosecutor Nathan Adriaanse put it to him during his bail hearing that he and Van Rooyen had wrapped Hector’s body in canvas after killing her on March 15 and driven to Groot Drakenstein to dump her remains.
Afterwards, Adriaanse alleged, they drove to Bishop Lavis to try to sell the car, but could not find a buyer. They apparently went on a drug binge which lasted into the next morning.
The car was found later in Observatory with parts missing.
The men were arrested a week later, shortly before Hector's body was found.
Hector disappeared after she left the Oostenberg Lodge in Kuils River, where she worked. Her body was found nine days later.
The two face charges of murder, vehicle robbery and defeating the ends of justice.
While the two appeared to have no previous convictions, the State said Van Rooyen had since been charged with an unrelated armed robbery, allegedly committed with a different accomplice.
