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Thulsie trial set to proceed this month
The trial of the so-called ISIS terror twins, Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie, who allegedly planned to attack Jewish installations, was scheduled to begin this week – but it was again postponed. The Thulsies have been in prison on remand for over a year since their arrest on July 9, 2016.
ANT KATZ
Following numerous postponements, the State was set to proceed in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court on July 5. However, defence counsel, Anneline van den Heever, told Magistrate Simon Radasi that her team were unable to open some pages of the docket provided to them by the State, as it required special software. The docket is believed to contain 22 000 pages.
The defence requested a postponement in the matter in order to obtain the special software or to get hard copies.
Advocate Adele Barnard, for the State, said she only received an e-mail from the defence informing her that they could not open the docket on the morning of the court appearance. The case was postponed to July 11.
The terror trialists again appeared briefly this week, this time before Magistrate Pieter du Plessis and State Prosecutor Chris MacAdam. The latter told the court the NPA was waiting for a 12th charge, of fraud, allegedly committed in the magisterial district of Ficksburg in the Free State, to be centralised. The matter was now postponed to July 27.
The indictment suggests that as far back as August 2015, Tony-Lee Thulsie interacted with an ISIS network, Abu Fidaa. During a series of chats, Thulsie was instructed to attack the best targets involving “US/Brit/French interest in SA” as well as to kill (Jewish cartoonist) Zapiro.
When the twins were arrested, they had a list of targets which included “Jewish installations”, the only one of which the State has disclosed, was King David Linksfield.