GQEBERHA – Accused Donovan “Poenie” Williams (48), one of Gqeberha’s most wanted fugitives, still intends to represent himself despite having no formal legal background, as he and co-accused Irvincia Basson (42) briefly appeared before the Gqeberha Regional Court today, 30 September, facing 18 counts of serious offences.

The presiding magistrate reminded Williams again of the danger of representing himself without any formal legal background. When asked why he intends to represent himself, Williams said, “I want to represent myself, because I think it’s my Constitutional right.”

When warned that should he fail to represent himself, he will be facing a long prison sentence, he confirmed that he understands.

According to the charge sheet, the preamble to the charges states that the accused allegedly engaged in a pattern of conduct where they either personally or through the assistance of others familiarised themselves with the financial circumstances of victims, targeting them with the intention of obtaining unlawful financial benefit from them.

“The State further alleges that pursuant to this conduct, the accused unlawfully and intentionally caused the deaths of the victims.”

The charge sheet added that “the accused subsequently utilised the victims’ bank cards to effect cash withdrawals and other transactions at various ATMs, and to make various point of sale purchases.”

Above is a short video of the pair during their brief appearance at the Gqeberha Regional Court today.

The accused share several offences together, with more faced by Williams than by Basson. The pair share eight counts of murder, five counts of conspiracy to commit murder, and four counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances. Williams alone faces unlawful possession of a firearm with intent to commit an offence, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, fraud, forgery and uttering.

The pair are linked to the murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit the murder of Loay Khayat, Quinton “Doenas” Plaatjies, Earl Classen, Clarisa Swart, Isaac Moses and Merlyn Alkenstead, who went missing between 2020 and 2025.

The charge sheet stated the discretionary minimum sentence for the murder counts is life imprisonment in the case of a first offender. “Robbery with aggravating circumstances is no less than 15 years for a first offender, no less than 20 years imprisonment for a second offender and no less than 25 years imprisonment for a third or subsequent offender.”

It added the penalty clauses, stating that “possession of a firearm with intent to commit a crime is imprisonment for a period not exceeding 25 years. Unlawful firearm possession is imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 years and unlawful possession of ammunition is imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 years.”

The matter was remanded until Wednesday, 8 October, for further investigation. The suspects will remain in custody.

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