The father and son accused of assaulting a black security guard and setting a dog on him in Groblersdal, Limpopo, have been denied bail, reports The Citizen.

Piet Groenewald, owner of Wildlife Investigation & Protection Services and his son Stefan Greeff, appeared in the Groblersdal Magistrate’s Court where the ruling in their bail application was handed down.

The two are accused of assaulting the 30-year-old security guard who claimed he was hit by Groenewald and Greeff with a heavy object and that the two incited a dog to attack him.

He recorded the attack on video.

During the closing arguments, the state reiterated that the accused’s previous convictions should be taken into consideration by the court. The case has attracted huge crowds and caused racial tensions to flare in the small town.

Magistrate Bongi Mashele said while politicians addressed the crowd during the bail application, the judgment had nothing to do with their attendance.

‘On the issue of the politicians attending court, I won’t comment, because they were not invited by the court and they were not friends of the court. They came here as part of the public. On the issue of them going to address members of the ANC and EFF, I cannot comment on that...’

Mashele said there was a likelihood Groenewald and Greef could interfere with witnesses if they were granted bail.

He said they used a car that had their security company names on it to take the state witness to the police station to make a statement to clear their names.

NPA spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said it welcomed the decision by the court to deny the accused bail.

The suspects will be back in court on 11 March 2024.

Full report in The Citizen