Suspect in brutal murder of woman and daughter abandons bail bid

A man accused of stabbing a mother and daughter to death abandoned his bail application in the Bellville magistrate's court on Monday.

Ryan Kyle Smith allegedly killed Altecia Kortje, 27, and seven-year-old Raynecia on June 12 in Belhar, Cape Town.

Smith was expected to apply for bail on Monday but decided not to proceed with the application. The case was postponed until September 25.

The public protector was asked to investigate claims that Kortje had tried to get a protection order before her death but was turned away by a court.

President Cyril Ramaphosa named the mother and child - among other victims of gender-based violence - when he told the nation that violence was being unleashed on women and children in the country with a brutality that defied comprehension.

“These rapists and killers walk among us. They are in our communities. They are our fathers, our brothers, our sons and our friends - violent men with utterly no regard for the sanctity of human life,” he said.