A fired former employee of slain Thornycroft Lodge owner Elza Remant-Eyland, 67, has appeared in court charged with her murder.
Jannie Fagans, 36, had worked at the lodge in Horseshoe Valley outside East London doing maintenance work for 11 years until he was fired on January 6.
This emerged in police evidence yesterday at the East London Magistrate’s Court when Fagans made a brief appearance in a bail hearing, together with his two co-accused, Phumlani Mabaso, 34, and Bhekathina Msomi, 36.
Investigating officer Captain Leonie Peters told magistrate Joel Cesar that Mabaso had confessed to the killing, and in the process had implicated his two co-accused.
Peters read out parts of Mabaso’s confession, but was asked by the court not to get into explicit details.
Mabaso and Fagans abandoned their bail application, while Msomi will know on Monday whether he will be granted bail or not.
Mabaso and Msomi are originally from KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), and Fagans gave a Western Cape address to police when he was arrested.
The case against Mabaso and Fagans was postponed to April 10 for further investigation and they remain in custody.
However, Msomi’s bail application was postponed to Monday after court ran out of time yesterday.
The trio were arrested earlier this month and were charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and theft of cellphones. Remant-Eyland’s white Toyota bakkie was later discovered in KZN.
It is the state’s case that Remant-Eyland’s murder was premeditated.
Peters told the court it was planned by the trio in Msomi’s Komga home, and that Mabaso and Fagans executed it in the absence of Msomi, who is a traditional healer practicing in Komga.
Peters said Remant-Eyland’s decomposed body was recovered by police on February 20 in the bushes outside the guest house.
This was four days after she went missing and a day after a case of a missing person was reported to police by her ex-husband Ferdie Remant.
Peters said Remant-Eyland was last seen on February 16, the day she was apparently killed and her body dumped in a nearby bush.
She said it was only on February 18 that her domestic worker returned to work and discovered that Remant-Eyland and her vehicle were missing.
Even though Mabaso had claimed in his confession that Remant-Eyland died after being stabbed, Peters yesterday told the court that at that point in the investigation, due to the decomposed state of the body on recovery, they could not tell if she was stabbed or not.
Peters told the court that the postmortem had later shown that Remant-Eyland had actually died as a result of strangulation.
She said the victim was also severely beaten, resulting in some of her ribs being broken.
Peters said Msomi was arrested at his Komga home after four cellphones belonging to the victim were traced and discovered there.
Peters said Mabaso and Fagans were arrested in Inanda in KZN in possession of Remant-Eyland’s stolen vehicle.
Msomi told the court yesterday that he did not know Fagans other than as a client.
Peters told the court that Msomi had visited Fagans at the lodge “on three or four occasions” before the gruesome killing.
“(Msomi) was part of the initial conspiracy to commit this crime, but was not there when it was actually executed, according to confession.”
But she said Mabaso and Fagans later met up with Msomi “where he performed a ritual to cleanse the stolen vehicle,” Peters said.
She said Remant-Eyland’s cellphones were found in Msomi’s possession, and he had also been implicated by Mabaso in his confession.
Peters opposed bail being granted to Msomi as he lied about a previous conviction for stock theft and about his home address in Inanda.
Msomi had lied when he said he was renting the Komga house, “as records show that it belonged to his mother. We still don’t know his real home address in KZN and because he is a sangoma and can practice anywhere in the world, if released on bail, we cannot trace him,” Peters said.
Msomi pleaded for bail because he had five children and his mother to support in Inanda.
He said he was sharing the Komga home with Mabaso while Fagans was only his client.
He agreed that the victim’s phones were found in a small bag in his home, but said the bag was Mabaso’s.
He told the court he was in KZN when he was called by Mabaso and Fagans, telling him they were in Durban and that they needed him to cleanse a vehicle.
He said he did so as he suspected nothing, “but was later told by my ancestors that the car was stolen”.
Remant-Eyland’s family declined to comment. —
asandan@dispatch.co.za
Thornycroft killer confession
Jannie Fagans, 36, had worked at the lodge in Horseshoe Valley outside East London doing maintenance work for 11 years until he was fired on January 6.
This emerged in police evidence yesterday at the East London Magistrate’s Court when Fagans made a brief appearance in a bail hearing, together with his two co-accused, Phumlani Mabaso, 34, and Bhekathina Msomi, 36.
Investigating officer Captain Leonie Peters told magistrate Joel Cesar that Mabaso had confessed to the killing, and in the process had implicated his two co-accused.
Peters read out parts of Mabaso’s confession, but was asked by the court not to get into explicit details.
Mabaso and Fagans abandoned their bail application, while Msomi will know on Monday whether he will be granted bail or not.
Mabaso and Msomi are originally from KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), and Fagans gave a Western Cape address to police when he was arrested.
The case against Mabaso and Fagans was postponed to April 10 for further investigation and they remain in custody.
However, Msomi’s bail application was postponed to Monday after court ran out of time yesterday.
The trio were arrested earlier this month and were charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and theft of cellphones. Remant-Eyland’s white Toyota bakkie was later discovered in KZN.
It is the state’s case that Remant-Eyland’s murder was premeditated.
Peters told the court it was planned by the trio in Msomi’s Komga home, and that Mabaso and Fagans executed it in the absence of Msomi, who is a traditional healer practicing in Komga.
Peters said Remant-Eyland’s decomposed body was recovered by police on February 20 in the bushes outside the guest house.
This was four days after she went missing and a day after a case of a missing person was reported to police by her ex-husband Ferdie Remant.
Peters said Remant-Eyland was last seen on February 16, the day she was apparently killed and her body dumped in a nearby bush.
She said it was only on February 18 that her domestic worker returned to work and discovered that Remant-Eyland and her vehicle were missing.
Even though Mabaso had claimed in his confession that Remant-Eyland died after being stabbed, Peters yesterday told the court that at that point in the investigation, due to the decomposed state of the body on recovery, they could not tell if she was stabbed or not.
Peters told the court that the postmortem had later shown that Remant-Eyland had actually died as a result of strangulation.
She said the victim was also severely beaten, resulting in some of her ribs being broken.
Peters said Msomi was arrested at his Komga home after four cellphones belonging to the victim were traced and discovered there.
Peters said Mabaso and Fagans were arrested in Inanda in KZN in possession of Remant-Eyland’s stolen vehicle.
Msomi told the court yesterday that he did not know Fagans other than as a client.
Peters told the court that Msomi had visited Fagans at the lodge “on three or four occasions” before the gruesome killing.
“(Msomi) was part of the initial conspiracy to commit this crime, but was not there when it was actually executed, according to confession.”
But she said Mabaso and Fagans later met up with Msomi “where he performed a ritual to cleanse the stolen vehicle,” Peters said.
She said Remant-Eyland’s cellphones were found in Msomi’s possession, and he had also been implicated by Mabaso in his confession.
Peters opposed bail being granted to Msomi as he lied about a previous conviction for stock theft and about his home address in Inanda.
Msomi had lied when he said he was renting the Komga house, “as records show that it belonged to his mother. We still don’t know his real home address in KZN and because he is a sangoma and can practice anywhere in the world, if released on bail, we cannot trace him,” Peters said.
Msomi pleaded for bail because he had five children and his mother to support in Inanda.
He said he was sharing the Komga home with Mabaso while Fagans was only his client.
He agreed that the victim’s phones were found in a small bag in his home, but said the bag was Mabaso’s.
He told the court he was in KZN when he was called by Mabaso and Fagans, telling him they were in Durban and that they needed him to cleanse a vehicle.
He said he did so as he suspected nothing, “but was later told by my ancestors that the car was stolen”.
Remant-Eyland’s family declined to comment. —
asandan@dispatch.co.za
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