Three men accused of the murder of Athlone drag queen Adnaan Davids appeared before the Athlone Magistrate’s Court on Monday. It is alleged that Nazier Ishmael, Faziel Rademeyer and Aashieq Bachelor lured Davids to a secluded field before proceeding to stab him to death.
According to Cape Times, the court heard that one of the accused held the victim down while the others stabbed him more than 20 times. The case has been postponed to March 16 for a bail application.
The paper further quotes Sharon Cox, health and support services manager for the Triangle Project, as saying that hopefully more information will come to light soon regarding this apparent hate crime.
“We know words like ‘moffie’ and ‘vuil moffie’ were used. In all cases of hate crime that we deal with, whether they have been rapes or murders, we know it starts with an argument or name-calling, and escalates from there.
“He was openly gay and known for being gay and we know derogatory words like that were used,” Cox concluded.
According to Davids’ sister, Aziza, her brother knew the accused.
“He was stabbed 25 times in the neck, face and back. We don’t want bail for any of them,” she revealed, adding that her brother had lodged a complaint of assault against two of the accused previously.
“People loved him. I have no idea how to feel exactly, I don’t know how to feel about all of this,” she said.
Trees to celebrate Arbor Month