Arnold Terblanche, the Nelson Mandela Bay businessman accused of masterminding the murder of his estranged wife, Vicki Terblanche, will again be in the dock at the Gqeberha Magistrate’s Court today, January 20.
After his most recent bail application was dismissed by Magistrate Kriban Pillay last month, the case was postponed to January 20.
Since his arrest in late 2021, Terblanche has been trying to get released on bail and has filed an appeal every time his application was dismissed.
After his appeal succeeded in the Gqeberha High Court in October last year, Terblanche’s legal team was allowed to present further evidence, and his bail application was to be heard by the lower court again within seven days, based on new facts.
This led to a lengthy process whereby the defense and prosecution delivered several arguments for their respective stances. Bail was once again denied on December 23, 2022.
During his judgement, Pillay went over Terblanche’s previous applications, giving a recollection of the reasons why they had not been successful, and came to the conclusion that Terblanche would interfere with state witnesses if released on bail.
Terblanche’s co-accused, Vicki’s boyfriend at the time of her death, Reinhardt Leach and Dylan Cullis, have abandoned their bids for bail.
The three are accused of murder and the conspiracy to commit murder, among others, after Vicki’s body was found in a shallow grave in Greenbushes in October 2021.
This comes after they allegedly murdered Vicki by suffocating her with a pillow and/or strangling her, after having drugged her with schedule 6 medication, Percocet. They had allegedly also robbed her.
