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File Photo: Members of the EFF with posters and Hillary Gardee’s family (front row) are seen inside the Nelspruit Magistrates’ Court in Mbombela on 09 May 2022.
The trial of convicted murderer Rassie Nkune has been scheduled to start on April 26 until the end of May 2027.
Nkune appeared in the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court sitting in Mbombela for a pre-trial hearing and plea.
He is accused of kidnapping and killing Hillary Gardee, the daughter of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Deputy president Godrich Gardee, in 2022.
Gardee’s body was found in a plantation outside Mbombela.
The trial was set to get underway in October, but Nkune changed legal representatives, leading to the delay.
The Gardee family spokesperson, Sunday Mgiba, has expressed disappointment.
“As the family and the EFF, we are very much disappointed, but there’s nothing that we can do because they are saying at the moment, 2026 judges will be busy and they don’t have space. They are only available in 2027. The family is very much disappointed, they are down, they don’t know what to do – they are just waiting for 2026 for the case to start.”
