State: Zarah had debt with murder accused
Prosecutors say Zarah Hector was bludgeoned to death because she owed one of her alleged killers "a lot of money".
|||Cape Town - Prosecutors say Zarah Hector was bludgeoned to death because she owed one of her alleged killers “a lot of money”.
And one of the two suspects in the murder case allegedly confessed to police that the Kuils River mom was struck five times over the head with a hammer.
State prosecutor Nathan Adriaanse says this statement was confirmed by the autopsy report.
This shocking information emerged as two men appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court on Thursday for a bail application.
Ronaldo van Rooyen, 34, and Tawfeeq Ebrahim, 26, both pleaded not guilty to murder and a charge of robbery with the intent to do grievous bodily harm.
However, Van Rooyen shocked the court when he indicated that he would not be applying for bail. No reason was given.
The State alleged that the two killed the mom of two on March 15 in Van Rooyen’s garage in Sarepta, before dumping her body in the Groot Drakenstein area where it was found on a farm two weeks later.
Zarah was last seen leaving her place of work at Oostenberg Lodge in her boyfriend’s silver BMW Z3.
Adriaanse said the State would prove that the robbery and murder were both premeditated.
“The crimes are Schedule 6 offences and based on that alone the accused should not be getting bail,” he said.
Ebrahim, represented by Advocate David Hauze, from the USA, stated that he should be freed on bail because he needed to support his two children.
“They are currently being supported by my mother and she cannot do that forever. I would also like an opportunity to work on my defence,” he said.
“All the things, the lies coming out in the media, are not fair and I want to give people the opportunity to hear my side as well.”
But Adriaanse said these reasons were not “exceptional”.
When asked if he knew Accused No.1 (Van Rooyen) and Zarah, he first said no, but then changed his mind and said he had met them before but did not know them.
The State said they would prove that not only did Ebrahim know them, but was sleeping over at Van Rooyen’s house on the night of the murder.
“You gave a statement to the police and you told us how many times she was hit with the hammer. This was later confirmed by the autopsy report,” said Adriaanse.
After this, Ebrahim’s answers were short and mostly “no comment”, which drew murmurs of discontent from the gallery.
Magistrate Vincent Keyte threatened to clear the room if they didn’t quiet down.
Adriaanse says according to Ebrahim’s statement, Zarah owed Van Rooyen a debt.
He stated: “You said Zarah owed a lot of money to Van Rooyen and that you guys planned to take the car as payment.”
Adriaanse asked that bail be denied, after Ebrahim allegedly intimidated a witness not to give evidence “even before his arrest”.
“He helped move her body and steal the car. This is known as tampering with the evidence. There is nothing to stop him from doing either again,” Adriaanse said.
The matter has been postponed to April 29 for judgment.
Daily Voice