Cape Town – Court papers have reportedly revealed that the three men who appeared at the Mbombela Magistrate’s Court on Monday in connection with the murder of Hillary Gardee, had allegedly been planning it since January this year.
According to EWN, the case charge sheet detailed that between January 22 and April 28, the trio – Sipho Mkhatshwa, Philemon Lukhele and Albert Gama reportedly planned to kill Hillary, an Information Technology (IT) student.
“It (charge sheet) also details how on 29 April, Gardee was forced into a vehicle with a three-year-old child who she was with at a grocery store. The court papers claim that she was raped and then murdered on or about a day later less than 5km from the Nelspruit Plaza where she was last seen,” the report said.
ALSO READ | Hillary Gardee murder: 3 suspects appear in court, charged with kidnapping, rape, murder
The daughter of former Economic Freedom Fighters’ secretary-general, Godrich Gardee went missing on April 29 after a shopping trip to a Spar near her home in Mbombela, Mpumalanga.
She was found dead in a field outside Mbombela, Mpumalanga on May 3 with a gun wound on her head.
Hillary was laid to rest on Saturday.
The murder trio, aged between 39 and 52 allegedly abandoned their bid for bail and will appear in court again on June 9.
According to IOL the three men were charged with murder, rape, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping and possession of illegal firearms.
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