admin
Lawyers spoken to said under normal circumstances such cases would have to restart with another assessor being appointed.
However, sources within the judicial said it was not necessary to start the trials afresh.
“When the majority of the court is available there is no need to start the trials as the majority can safely deal with the case.
“It would be a different story when only one member of the bench remains and this would definitely warrant that the trial is started afresh,” said an officer speaking on condition of anonymity.
Mr Hikwa died at a health institution in Hillside suburb at 6am on Tuesday and was buried at West Park Cemetery yesterday.
The partly heard case of Shadreck Sibanda and Njabulo Ndlovu, who are serving jail terms for raping a student from the United College of Education and later allegedly murdering her escort, is set for Tuesday.
The other partly heard case where Mr Hikwa sat in as assessors is the 2003 murder trial of Albert Ncube and Robert Nyathi who are facing allegations of murdering a female commercial farmer from Nyamandlovu before kidnapping her worker.
The trial is set for 25 September and is being heard by Justice Maphios Cheda.
Mr Hikwa was also part of the bench hearing the case of Dumisani Ngulube and Terrence Chande who are facing a charge of murder and their trial is set to continue on 27 September.
He was also part of the hearing of the lengthy treason trial of three political activists, two of them members of Mthwakazi Liberation Front. The three are Charles Thomas and Paul Siwela, both executive members of the MLF and John Gazi, a former member of the same party.
Online Reporter