ONE of the accused in the Riana Pretorius kidnapping case hinted in court, by means of an affidavit, that Pretorius herself may be linked to her own kidnapping.
Xolani Kafile, who was arrested in East London in connection with the kidnapping that took place in Newton Park on March 16, remains adamant that he was not involved, and challenged the strength of the state’s case against him. He, along with his co-accused, Xolisile Rawutini, appeared in the Gqeberha Magistrate’s Court on Thursday afternoon, April 13, for the continuation of their bail application.
Kafile’s legal representative, Wayne MacGear, read the affidavit into the record. According to Kafile in the affidavit after reading media reports about this case, there “appears to be much more than meets the eye.”
“I submit that doubt exists, taking into regard why the complainant that is not so well-known, is kidnapped and ransom money demanded. It is incumbent that the investigating officer testifies as to prove these allegations.
“There are too many questions that arise as to who the persons are behind this, what and where this conspiracy was planned to extort money, and whether there are other suspects that have close relationships with the complainant or whether she was part and parcel of this conspiracy,” the affidavit read.
Kafile further claimed that he had perused media headlines and read about Pretorius’ now allegedly former boyfriend and his financial woes.
“It was put in the public domain that the boyfriend failed to pay R3.5 million in costs and that he was sequestrated, as well as the fact that the complainant and her father refused to testify in the inquiry. The reason why I am referring to the financial woes of the boyfriend is because this case of kidnapping and extortion is mentioned in the same breath in the reports,” the affidavit continued.
He maintained that this was not just a random act of kidnapping and “not coincidental.”
Other submissions made by Kafile were that he has a plate in his upper left leg due to a car accident, and weighs more than 100kg, which means that he is not physically in a condition to run distances. This is in response to police reports that the suspects ran away when the getaway car was found in Deal Party.
Kafile and Rawutini face several charges, ranging from kidnapping, trafficking of persons, and robbery with aggravating circumstances. This is as a result of their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of Pretorius and the subsequent ransom demand of R2 million. Pretorius, a 26-year-old biokineticist, was safely returned to her family on March 24.
The case has been postponed to April 26.
