The Polokwane High Court in Limpopo has described convicted murderer Rameez Patel as a “pathological liar” while testifying in his trial for the murder of his wife, Fatima Patel.
The case which has been bouncing around the court since 2016, when the trial first began dates back to 2016.
Rameez, who appeared in the Polokwane High Court on Tuesday for judgment, has been standing trial for Fatima’s murder while out on R250 000 bail.
‘Pathological liar’
Handing down a judgment, Judge Joseph Raulinga revoked Rameez’s bail after the guilty verdict.
Raulinga said he was not convinced by the defence’s evidence during the trial, saying Rameez may have misled the police during the inspection-in-loco at the crime scene, as he was speaking a foreign language not understood by the officers.
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“The accused is found guilty on charges of murder, possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition.
“The court views the accused as a pathological liar. It is also ingenious of him to say that a plastic bag containing such clothing was handed to Nkuna in a plastic bag when we know fully well that not all clothes were handed in by the accused,” Raulinga said.
Evidence
Evidence presented by the defence during the trial contradicted the version of events initially given by Rameez, who had told investigators that intruders had broken into the home, a story he later changed.
Experts argued that Fatima sustained fatal blunt force trauma to her head, presumably caused by a heavy object, possibly a cricket bat.
Threatening brother
During the trial, the court heard testimony from Rameez’s brother, Razeen, about how the businessman threatened him with death if he told anyone that he had killed his 28-year-old wife, Fatima.
“He threatened to kill me if I decided to tell anyone. I told my parents. I told my dad about two days, three days before he died. I told my mother a few weeks before she died. My mom was shot in our house in Nirvana. I then decided to approach the police. I then informed the police about the threats and the confession,” Razeen told the court.
Fatima ‘angry’
In a statement to police, the couple’s domestic Sibongile Ngwenya said “Fatima was angry” with Rameez on the day of the murder.
Ngwenya and Danny Gundiza, a former employee of Rameez, also reportedly disappeared without a trace three years ago while in a police custody Programme.
The court also heard that Rameez and Fatima had marital problems and that he had an affair with a woman, whom he married after his wife’s death.
Murder
Fatima’s body was found in a pool of blood at their Nirvana home in Limpopo after they allegedly had a fight.
An autopsy by forensic pathologist Dr Thakadu Mamashela revealed that Fatima was executed with a single shot to the head, indicating that, at some point before her death, she was strangled and suffered blunt force trauma that dislocated her jaw, possibly caused by a cricket bat that was recovered from the ceiling of the apartment.
Murders
Rameez was also accused of killing his mother, Muhajeen, in front of her domestic worker. This case was provisionally withdrawn in 2021 due to insufficient evidence.
Rameez’s father, Firoz, was killed in an unsolved robbery, while Yunus Mayet, the father of his current wife, Nasreen, was kidnapped and murdered.
In 2018, his brother Razeen was shot days before he was due to testify against Rameez.
Rameez was released on bail in 2015 after being granted R250 000 bail.
The matter was rolled over to Wednesday for an application for bail extension and a social worker’s probation report.
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