- Rameez Patel stands accused of killing his first wife and later his mother in two separate incidents.
- Patel is on trial for allegedly killing his wife, Fatima, in 2015.
- The trial was meant to continue on Wednesday but the judge hearing the matter was ill.
The long-running murder trial of Limpopo businessman Rameez Patel suffered yet another setback after the presiding judge was admitted to hospital this week.
The trial was supposed to have resumed in the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane on Wednesday.
Patel is charged with killing his wife, Fatima, at their marital home in the Polokwane suburb of Nirvana on 10 April 2015. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
It emerged in court on Wednesday that Judge Joseph Raulinga had been hospitalised.
Acting judge Lesibana Ledwaba told the State and defence lawyers: "We heard this morning (Wednesday) that the presiding judge is not available – in fact, he is in hospital."
Defence lawyer Mahomed Saleem Khan, SC, suggested the postponement until February next year.
However, Ledwaba pointed out that he spoke to Raulinga, who was of the view that the matter should be set down for December.
Ledwaba said:
But Khan said the witness, Professor Terrence Kamal, would be unavailable until next year. Kamal is expected to testify for the defence about certain aspects of the post-mortem report.
Earlier, Dr Ajay Maharaj, testifying for the defence, disputed that Patel's wife died of a gunshot wound. He said strangulation was most likely the cause of death.
The matter has now been set for 8 and 9 February next year.
Patel's life has been marked by intrigue, with multiple twists and turns.
He faces a separate murder case in which he is accused of killing his mother, Muhajeen, in 2017.
Patel's brother, Razeen, was shot at in 2018, just a few days before he was meant to testify against him. A year later, Razeen testified that he was at the couple's home when Fatima was killed.
Patel's father, Firoz, was killed in what was declared an unsolved robbery in 2016. Yunus Mayet, the father of his current wife, Nazreen, was kidnapped and killed in 2018.
The police have not linked Rameez to the murders of his father and father-in-law. He has also not been linked to the shooting of his brother.