Lawyer for accused in Grindr kidnapping case to challenge Gauteng arrest warrants
Mlungisi Mbuthu, Bongani Zulu and Zwelakhe Ngwenya appeared briefly at the Cape Town Magistrates Court on Thursday, facing six charges of kidnapping and extortion.
Suspects of the 'Grindr Gang', an alleged kidnapping syndicate targeting gay men. Picture: Ntuthuzelo Nene/Eyewitness News
CAPE TOWN - The lawyer representing three men accused of luring gay men using dating app Grindr in Cape Town and extorting them for money said he planned to challenge the arrest warrants issued for his clients in Gauteng.
Mlungisi Mbuthu, Bongani Zulu and Zwelakhe Ngwenya appeared briefly at the Cape Town Magistrates Court on Thursday, facing six charges of kidnapping and extortion.
The charges relate to alleged incidents that took place in the Cape Town CBD, Woodstock, Camps Bay, Durbanville and Brackenfell.
The trio, from Soweto, was nabbed by the Hawks in June for allegedly holding a 50-year-old man hostage in Woodstock.
Their lawyer, Nceba Jack, said that his clients had abandoned bail for now to first deal with the pending arrest warrants for them.
"The State is at liberty to bring any charges and as we have indicated before, it's another thing to prove those charges. They are facing that problem now. The second part is that the bail is abandoned provisionally because there is a matter in Johannesburg for which a warrant is issued and we must go and cancel that warrant."
The case has been postponed to 15 October for further investigation.