The trial of Bafana Mahungela, the 22-year-old student accused of the brutal murder of Sandton teacher Kirsten Kluyts, is set to begin in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
The trial had been scheduled to start on Monday, but was postponed due to the unavailability of the presiding officer.
On Monday, IOL News reported that defence attorney Mothokozi Ngcowane confirmed outside court that the matter was postponed to October 15, because the presiding officer assigned to the case was engaged in another matter at the Johannesburg High Court.
“The judge who is presiding over the case is not available today,” Ngcowane told the media.
“We were informed that he’s committed to another matter in the Johannesburg High Court. We were ready to proceed, but the matter has been postponed to Wednesday, October 15, for trial.”
Mahungela faces multiple charges, including kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder, and attempted rape.
He was arrested in November 2023 at a student residence in Parkmore, following the discovery of Kluyts’s body dumped along a jogging path in George Lea Park, Sandton, on October 29, 2023.
Kluyts, a teacher at Delta Park High School, had been participating in a local athletic event on the day she was killed.
Bafana Mahungela, the 22-year-old brutal murder accused of of Sandton teacher Kirsten Kluyts, who was pregnant at the time of her death, is set to begin in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
She was pregnant at the time of her death.
Investigators said surveillance footage showed Mahungela wearing a black T-shirt and trousers before the killing.
He was later seen leaving the vicinity of the crime scene at 8.49 a.m, wearing a blue T-shirt identified by investigators as the same one Kluyts had been wearing earlier that morning.
He was also seen holding a black item in his left hand.
Mahungela previously admitted to undressing Kluyts and leaving her body naked in the bushes, claiming he did so only to remove fingerprints after attempting to “help” her.
Her clothes were later recovered from a nearby drain.
A post-mortem report revealed that Kluyts died from blunt-force head trauma and strangulation.
The State alleges that the fatal assault lasted approximately eight minutes.
The defence previously filed representations claiming that prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to link Mahungela to the crime.
However, the State, represented by Advocates Siyabonga Futshana and Leisha Surendra, said it is fully prepared to proceed.
In response, Advocates Futshana and Leisha Surendra presented the State’s position in court, confirming that the prosecution is ready to proceed to trial, the NPA previously said.
Mahungela was previously denied bail and will remain in custody until the trial resumes on Wednesday.
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