DURBAN - After Miguel Louw’s alleged kidnapper was granted bail, the missing schoolboy’s father struck the accused with his jacket as he descended to the holding cells at the Durban Magistrate's Court.
As the accused descended into the holding cells at the court, family and friends in the gallery were leaving court, grumbling, but Miguel’s father Kirk, could be seen watching Ebrahim while rolling up his jacket. He then hurriedly leaned over the court benches and struck Ebrahim with a jacket, before police reprimanded the father, as Magistrate Mohamed Motala watched on in disbelief.
It was one of several heated moments in the courtroom on Wednesday, as family members who were seated in the gallery disrupted proceedings by shouting during the bail hearing.
Magistrate Motala threw one person out of the courtroom at one point and scolded: “What does this say about our society, about our law-abiding people?”
But as Motala announced he would be granting R2 500 bail to the accused, Mohammed Vahed Ebrahim, 43, he told the court he found the State had a weak case and had found no compelling evidence to keep the accused behind bars.
An enraged Raylene Louw, Miguel's mother, stormed out the courtroom and shouted: “He took my child! I’ll meet him outside.”
As Raylene left the courtroom, another person in the gallery who was accompanying the mother shouted at the magistrate: “You should see the video footage”.
Ebrahim stands accused of kidnapping the Sydenham schoolboy and stealing his identity documents including a birth certificate. He was granted R2 500 bail with strict bail condition that he report to the Phoenix police station three times a week. He is also restricted from visiting the Sydenham area unless accompanied by a police officer, the court heard.
The video footage the Louw family was referring to was from inside a Sydenham KFC, where Ebrahim was seen with the Miguel. He has admitted he was with Miguel on the day.
Ebrahim’s defence attorney, Chris Gounden, said: “My client has made the admission that he was at the home of the child, where he had stayed the night before. He then went to the school where he saw the child. The pair went to a KFC shop. My client then went across the road to a taxi which he boarded alone.”
According to Gounden, Ebrahim saw the identity documents in Louw’s house and kept them for safekeeping.
Motala questioned the State for proof that Ebrahim boarded the taxi with Miguel but prosecutor Calvin Govender said cameras in the vicinity did not show where Ebrahim baorded the taxi.
The State is currently pressing on why Ebrahim did not inform anyone of his whereabouts for three days after Miguel’s kidnapping.
Ebrahim was arrested on July 20 in the Durban CBD. He said he did not have money to board a taxi to return to his Phoenix home.
According to the State, Ebrahim lives in a dilapidated Wendyhouse on the premises of his parents' home.
He is estranged from his family, unmarried and without children.
“We sympathise with the family. But by focusing on the wrong person, the real perpetrator might get away with it,” he said in court earlier.
At this point, Miguel’s grandmother, Arlene Paul, stormed out of court shouting: “I’d rather walk away than to hear a lawyer lie so much in Jesus name, Amen Lord.”
On granting Ebrahim bail, Motala reminded the gallery of the laws of the country, and the reason for legal procedures.
Ebrahim will appear in court again on October 17.