UPDATE: Mark Lifman killers’ murder case postponed

The two men accused of murdering Mark Lifman in November 2024, Johannes Jacobs and Gert Bezuidenhout, made a brief appearance in the George Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, 20 February.

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The case was remanded to Tuesday, 15 April as ballistic reports and cellphone analysis reports are still outstanding.

Raw footage of seven cellphones, of which two have international numbers, still has to be analysed.

Defence unhappy

The state asked for a long remand to complete the above tasks. 

However, the defence argued that a long postponement infringes on the rights of the two accused and that arrests shouldn’t be made with the intention to investigate thereafter.

They asked for a postponement of no more than four weeks.

Magistrate Nasiba Khan agreed that a lengthy postponement won’t be suitable, but still postponed the case for nearly eight weeks.

Jacobs, 53, and Bezuidenhout, 37, are said to be ‘highly trained and registered to provide security services to high-profile business owners, including those linked to the underworld’.

The duo were arrested and charged shortly after Mark Lifman’s murder outside the Garden Route Mall in George on Sunday, 3 November.

He was 57.

The pair were apprehended near Uniondale after fleeing the crime scene.

“After the suspects fled the crime scene, police, law enforcement officials, security companies and crime watch groups were activated to be on the lookout for the suspects in the region,” the police said in a statement. 

It is believed that Lifman was in the Garden Route town to play golf at Fancourt.

He was alone when he was shot, which was a rare occurrence as he always had heavily-armed bodyguards – often as many as five – with him when he moved around in public in Cape Town.

Facing multiple charges

Mark Lifman was facing multiple serious charges, including murder, attempted murder, money laundering, and gang-related offences. 

He was due to appear in Western Cape High Court on Monday, 4 November, along with 13 other suspects including the alleged leader of the Sexy Boys gang, Jerome ‘Donkie’ Booysen, for the murder trial of Brian Wainstein who was shot in his home in Constantia in 2017.

This developing news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

What punishment – if any – do you believe will be handed down to the duo?

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