After spending Christmas and New Year behind bars, the bail application of the estranged husband of murder victim Vicki Terblanche, Arnold Terblanche, will continue in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court tomorrow, January 20.
The last time the 55-year-old appeared in court was on December 21 last year, when a social worker was present and under cross examination by one of Terblanche’s legal representatives, Danie Gouws.
This follows a previous court ruling by Magistrate Kriban Pillay, that an urgent report compiled by a social worker had to be brought before court. Gouws had requested that the social worker be present too.
The report was to determine who would be fit to take care of Terblanche’s 12-year-old son whom he shared with Vicki.
Pillay had then made a ruling that the social worker’s findings in the report not be published in the media, as they dealt with sensitive information regarding the minor child.
It had previously been mentioned several times in court that the boy suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and is thus a “special needs” child.
ICYMI | Arnold Terblanche’s bail application postponed again
Being there for and able to take care of his son is also one of the main arguments that Terblanche’s legal team has put to the court as to why he needs to be granted bail.
The case was postponed until tomorrow after Gouws requested that the child’s psychologist also be present at court with the next appearance. Terblanche and his co-accused, Vicki’s boyfriend, Reinhardt Leach (32) and Dylan Cullis (24), are accused of conspiring to murder the 42-year-old mother.
Vicki’s body was found in a shallow grave in Greenbushes in October last year.
She had allegedly been drugged, suffocated with a pillow and/or strangled.
Leach and Cullis have opted to not apply for bail.
