Judge Allows AKA Murder Accused’s Transfer to Super-Max Prison

A judge in the Durban High Court has told the defence in the Kiernan “AKA” Forbes murder case that she has no power to decide where the state keeps an accused person who is awaiting trial. Judge Nompumelelo Msizi made the comment on Wednesday, when lawyers for Lindokuhle Mkhwanazi asked the court to stop their client from being moved to a maximum-security prison. Mkhwanazi is one of four men charged with killing the rapper.

His legal team argued that being held in such a facility would make it hard for him to meet freely with his lawyers and prepare his defence. They said the conditions there would put him at an unfair disadvantage before the trial has even started.

Judge Msizi explained that decisions about where prisoners are held belong to the Department of Correctional Services and not to the courts. State prosecutor Ashika Luckan agreed that the court has no authority over how the department classifies and places inmates. She added that the State would not object if the defence took the matter up with the department through the proper channels.

Forbes was shot dead on Florida Road in Morningside, Durban, on 10 February 2023. His associate, Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane, was also killed in the attack. Besides Mkhwanazi, the accused are Sfiso Mtolo and Lindani Ndimande, along with a fourth man. All four were arrested separately and have been in custody since.

The ruling means the defence will have to raise its concerns with Correctional Services itself if it wants to challenge any transfer. The department has not said publicly which facility Mkhwanazi is held in now, or whether an order to move him has already been issued.

The case will return to the Durban High Court next month. No trial date has been set yet. How the accused are held before trial can sometimes become a legal issue, and the defence’s worries about access to their lawyers may come up again as the case moves forward.

I left out parts of the original that I could not verify or that were not reporting: the courtroom number, the description of Mkhwanazi gripping the dock railing and his lawyer’s folder, the claim that the arrests took place across several provinces, and the closing question about whether detention could derail the trial. The judge’s and prosecutor’s names come from the text you gave me, so please check them against your source before publishing.

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