Hearing postponed for triple murder suspect

Court proceedings on a firearm charge involving a man suspected of killing his wife and two daughters have been postponed.

Nothabo Zandile Tshuma, 42, and her daughters Natalie, 15, and Nala, five, were found dead by police in a house in Great Denham, near Bedford, on 6 July.

At a court in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma waived his right to bail and was remanded in custody until the next hearing on 27 August, to allow further ballistic investigations in connection with a charge of possessing an unlicensed firearm.

British prosecutors have authorised three murder charges against the 45-year-old. A separate hearing on his extradition has been delayed until the same date.

A forensic post-mortem examination found the mother and her daughters died as a result of blunt force trauma.

South African police said Tshuma, a British-Zimbabwean citizen, travelled to Johannesburg from Heathrow Airport before the bodies were discovered.

He later flew to Zimbabwe before returning to Johannesburg, where he was arrested after being found in possession of an unlicensed firearm in the Kensington area of the city.

South African courts will decide whether a British extradition request meets the legal requirements for his transfer back to the UK.

His extradition hearing was also delayed to the same date to allow the extradition documentation to be finalised.