NPA challenges bail attempt of Lifman murder accused

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is opposing the latest attempt by the two men accused of killing controversial businessman Mark Lifman, to secure their release on bail.

The lawyers representing Johannes Jacobs and Gert Bezuidenhout, have approached the High Court in Cape Town on Monday.

They’re appealing the Thembalethu Regional Court’s decision to dismiss their most recent bail application in February, in which they set out to present new facts.

Jacobs and Bezuidenhout were arrested shortly after Lifman was gunned down in the parking lot of the Garden Route Mall in George, in November 2024.

The respondent, Advocate Evadne Kortje, argues that no new facts have been established.

“The respondent will fail in our duty if I don’t submit the alternative that should this honourable court find that new facts were established cumulatively, it is the respondent’s submission that the new facts, with the old facts, presented by the appellants and ventilated during the bail applications.

The two bail applications cumulatively does not amount to the appellants discharging their onus to establish exceptional circumstances that warrant the interest of justice their release on bail.” X | @SABCNews | The case against two men accused of the murder of alleged Cape Town underworld crime boss and businessman, Mark Lifman has been postponed to the 25th of August at the George Regional Court in the Western Cape. https://t.co/hdWvz7LCHx — SABC News (@SABCNews) July 1, 2025