Zarah Ramsamy: Trial of policeman accused of using hijacked victim’s bank card postponed

The trial of the Cato Manor police officer who was found in possession of a stolen bank card belonging to the mother of hijacked victim Zarah Ramsamy, was postponed in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

Constable Minenhle Makhaye was arrested after he allegedly swiped Shay Ramsamy’s bank card, which was stolen when she and her family were hijacked outside a fast food outlet in Malvern on September 11, 2024.

Zarah, a pupil at Penzance Primary School pupil, had hidden under her mother’s Toyota Fortuner when she was killed in the hijacking.

CCTV footage captured Zarah being run over twice as the hijackers fled the scene with the vehicle.

Hours after the hijacking, CCTV footage allegedly captured Makhaye purchasing alcohol with his friends at a liquor outlet in Rossburgh.

After an investigation by the National Prosecuting Authority, the case was reopened in October 2025.

On Wednesday, Makhaye was due to start his trial, but the case was postponed due to the prosecutor being unavailable.

During his pre-trial conference in August, Makhaya said he intendedto plead not guilty, and claimed he used Ramsamy’s card erroneously, thinking it was his card.

He said he used the card while he was intoxicated, and he did not take the care to notice that it was his card.

Makhaye was charged with theft, fraud, being in possession of stolen property and defeating the ends of justice.