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Legalbrief   |   your legal news hub Friday 29 March 2024

Double-murder accused threaten to sue over delays

The two men accused of the murder of Cape Town theology student Jesse Hess and her grandfather Chris Lategan yesterday threatened legal action if there were further delays in DNA test results. The court roll at the Bellville Magistrate's Court has been delayed because of load-shedding, News24 reports. Yesterday the matter was again postponed to 8 April. The two will remain in custody as they did not apply for bail. The late Jesse's relative David van Boven complained through his Legal Aid lawyer that he had been in custody since November and no evidence had been presented to link him to the case. He was unhappy about the delay in the analysis of the DNA samples taken from the scene at the flat in Parow where Hess and Lategan were found dead on 30 August 2019. He demanded that the remand be marked as 'final' and said after that he would institute civil proceedings for his arrest. His co-accused Tasliem Ambrose represented himself but opted for a Legal Aid lawyer on Wednesday and indicated he felt the same as Van Boven. Magistrate Charles Scott said in 'court time' theirs had only been a short period in custody given the nature of the allegations. He therefore did not mark it as final. He said questions about links to a crime are often raised during bail applications, which neither had opted to submit so far. The court heard that Ambrose had previous and pending drug-related cases and a conviction for gun possession. Van Boven had previous convictions for aggravated robbery and rape. He advised Van Boven to indicate that he wanted to apply for bail and to 'wait in the queue' for the application to be heard if he chose to do so.