Bail granted to Gqeberha firearms dealer accused of selling guns to criminals
After 18 months behind bars and multiple failed bail attempts, beleaguered Gqeberha firearms dealer Karen Webb walked out of the city's Magistrate's Court with an enormous smile on her face.
Flanked by her parents and attorney, Webb took her first breath of free air since her arrest in February 2024 after she was granted bail on two separate cases on Thursday.
'Write a nice article about me,' she told journalists as she got behind the driver's seat of her parents' car and drove off.
In addition to two murder charges, the 41-year-old faces 14 counts of theft, fraud and forgery, several charges related to the Firearms Control Act pertaining to the unauthorised transport of weapons, failure to report the loss or theft of weapons, unauthorised production of ammunition and providing firearms training while uncertified to do so, among other charges.
The charges relate to allegations that Webb supplied firearms to criminal elements across the country, stole money and firearms from customers and provided uncertified firearms training.
While she did not pull the trigger in the two murder charges against her, she is accused of providing the firearms to the violent criminals who committed the crimes.
Shortly after Webb's arrest for alleged theft of firearms, her initial formal bail application was dismissed and a subsequent application based on new facts was also refused.
A few months ago, she approached the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court in Makhanda to appeal against the decision and was granted bail in the amount of R10,000.
However, several more charges had been brought against her, including the murder charges, meaning an entirely new bail application was undertaken.
Webb was also charged with being in possession of contraband while in custody at the North End Prison after she was allegedly twice found in possession of a cellphone.
She returned to court on Thursday for judgment in the bail application, which included the murder and firearms-related charges.
In the judgment, Magistrate Maharaj found that the State did not present a strong enough case to prevent Webb's release from custody. She said while the charges against Webb were very serious, the State's reasons for opposing bail were not persuasive enough.
Despite several pending cases against her, Maharaj said Webb had no previous convictions, and the fact that she had a minor daughter and elderly parents in the city was enough to prevent her from fleeing and evading her trial.
She said there was also not enough proof before court that Webb might tamper with evidence, attempt to influence witnesses or disturb the public order.
Strict conditions
Maharaj set strict bail conditions – house arrest between 6pm and 6am, Webb must report to her local police station three times a week, and the investigating officers must be notified before any travel outside Gqeberha.
Maharaj transferred the matter to another court where Magistrate Ralton Basterman presided over Webb's bail application related to the cellphones she allegedly smuggled into prison.
Webb's attorney, Peter Daubermann, instructed by Louis van Rensburg, told the court he had been in contact with the acting director of public prosecutions, advocate Marius Stander, and made representations that his client should be released on warning.
In his submissions, Daubermann said the cellphone charges were 'petty offences that paled in comparison to the other cases against her on which she was already granted bail'.
After some back-and-forth between Daubermann and prosecutor Asavela Dweba, Stander contacted the State attorneys and instructed them that bail should not be opposed.
Basterman subsequently granted Webb bail in the amount of R1,000 and said no additional bail conditions were required as the conditions of her other bail proceedings were adequate.
Upon leaving the courthouse, Webb hugged Van Rensburg before helping her wheelchair-bound mother into their car and driving off.
She is expected to return to court on 22 August, when a trial date could possibly be determined.
During a previous bail application, it was revealed that more than 1,250 firearms that had allegedly been in her care were still missing. More than 100 firearms linked to Webb have already been recovered from crime scenes across the country.
According to an affidavit read into the record by State advocate Liezel Landman on behalf of Detective Sergeant JJ Botha, the weapons disappeared before Webb's arrest in February 2024 and have not been recovered. DM
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