Magistrate questions how coffin assault duo learnt racist behaviour
The two men accused of assaulting and forcing Victor Mlotshwa into a coffin, will be back in court in January - to set a date for their trail.
The Middleberg Magistrate's Court yesterday ruled that granting bail to the two men would not have been in the interest of justice.
Magistrate Jongilizwe Dumehleli denied Theo Jackson and Willem Oosthuizen bail.
The men made headlines last month when a video of the alleged assault - which occurred on a farm in Mpumalanga - went viral on social media.
Magistrate Dumehleli said the two men where only six and seven years old when apartheid ended, and questioned where they learnt this kind of language and behaviour.
"It is therefore not surprising, to see the entire world being shocked and shaken to see a large human being shoved into the coffin. What is shockingly aggravating in this case, is the manner in which the victim screamed - urging the applicants to not do this. The explanation by the applicants is that they had to teach the victim a lesson. This is more than offending. Even the defence counsel considered that it is not right for people be subjected to these atrocities," he said.
Outside court, protesters praised the judgement saying this level of racism is not acceptable in our new democracy.