Kings Park death back in court

A rugby fan beaten to death outside Durban's Kings Park Stadium may have been involved in more than two fights on the fatal night, the Durban Magistrate's Court heard on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Krishen Shah said information had been received that former Royal Marine Brett Williams might have been involved in another altercation prior to the two clashes he had with the five men accused of beating him to death.

This information needed to be investigated, he said.

Apart from the new information, the case against the five accused was "98 percent complete".

Four of the men - brothers Blayne and Kyle Shepard, Andries van der Merwe, and Dustin van Wyk - face one charge of murder, three of assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm, and one of crimen injuria.

A fifth accused - Grant Cramer - is charged with one count of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Williams, 29, was killed at a Super Rugby match in Durban in March.

Magistrate Vanitha Armu relaxed the men's bail conditions. They no longer had to report weekly to a police station near their homes.

The four facing murder charges are out on bail of R5000 each, while Cramer is out on bail of R2000.

At their appearance in June, Shah said Williams allegedly had an altercation with Cramer outside the stadium on the night of March 23.

Cramer "had a choke hold" on Williams, and he lost consciousness, Shah told the court.

Paramedics revived him, but the other four allegedly "kicked and punched" him in a second altercation later.

Paramedics were unable to revive Williams again, and he was declared dead at the scene.

Armu postponed the case to October 8 for a pre-trial conference, by which time the State should have provided the legal teams with all the evidence against their clients, and possibly for a trial date to be set.

It still has to be decided whether the case will be heard in the regional or high court in Durban.

SAPA