No bail for Thandi Maqubela
Thandi Maqubela, convicted of killing her acting judge husband, is probably spending Christmas in jail.
The Western Cape High Court denied her application to be released on bail pending the outcome of her appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.
But her lawyer wants to appeal the decision.
She is currently serving 15 years in jail for killing her husband, acting judge Patrick Maqubela.
Judge Andre Le Grange said on Friday that on consideration of the facts, he was not convinced she had shown that it would be in the interest of justice to permit her release on bail.
“It follows that the application for bail pending her appeal cannot succeed. In the result, the application for bail is refused.”
On Tuesday, her lawyer Thomas Tyler argued in the Western Cape High Court that she should be given bail pending an appeal of her murder conviction in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The State argued her appeal had little prospect of success and that she had not shown her release was in the interest of justice.
The same court found Maqubela guilty for the June 2009 murder and she was sentenced in March this year.
Her lawyer indicated today that he would be appeal the ruling and the court was adjourned for a 15 minutes for Tyler to present the facts of his appeal.
Her husband was found dead on his bed in his Sea Point flat on 5 June 2009, apparently a day after saying he wanted a divorce.
(File photo: Gallo Images)