Meghan Cremer's alleged killers fail in Christmas freedom bid

Three men accused of murdering Meghan Cremer began an attempt to spend Christmas at home on Wednesday by claiming police tortured them.

Jeremy Sias, Shiraaz Jaftha and Charles Daniels asked Athlone Magistrate's Court in Cape Town to order the state to hand over evidence which could prove the torture allegations and assist with their bail applications.

Cremer's body was found on August 8 at a sand mine in Philippi, a few kilometres from the Vaderlandsche Rietvlei horse stables where she was last seen five days earlier.

Through a legal aid attorney, the accused argued on Wednesday that they were entitled to a medical report compiled by a doctor who examined them after their arrest, their written confessions, and the report of an identification parade at which Sias was allegedly pointed out as a suspect.

The court dismissed their application, saying the documents were not required for the their bail bid.

The accused then handed in affidavits in order to try to prove  there were exceptional circumstances for their release on bail.

Sias, a 27-year old who worked at the stables where Cremer lived, claimed that after his arrest on August 5 he was taken into a police cell and relentlessly beaten until he "could no longer stand it", at which point he "involuntarily made a statement" on August 8.

He was then examined in hospital, and said the doctor's report would confirm his claim that his constitutional rights had been violated.

In motivating for his release, he said he was a single father of four children and the sole breadwinner in the house he shared with his girlfriend, her grandmother, his grandmother, and his mother-in-law.

Sias is charged with murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, theft of a motor vehicle and defeating the ends of justice.

Daniels, 38, and Jaftha, 34, argued that they were the sole breadwinners in their families.

Daniels said he was a self-employed mechanic earning R800 a week and a father of two children aged 14 and 18, and that he had a previous conviction for possession of drugs. He claimed to have no knowledge of the stolen vehicle or the murder before his arrest.

Jaftha said he was the father of two and a taxi guard and that his children were suffering as a result of his incarceration.

The application for the release of the documents was denied after prosecutor Emily van Wyk argued that handing them over would be prejudicial to the state's case.

The accused face a schedule 6 offence, meaning the onus rests on them to prove their case for bail.

The defence said the accused were entitled to see a confession which they themselves authored. However, Van Wyk said the confessions were authored by a third party on instruction by the accused. She did not say who the third party was.

There was also no mention of an elusive fourth accused after evidence surfaced of a man who used Cremer's bank card after she was reported missing and who is believed to be a local gang boss and shack baron responsible for an iron-fisted reign over informal settlements in the Philippi farmlands.

The bail application was adjourned until December 27.