News24/Alex Mitchley Coetzee alleged that Thabethe was the aggressor - and that he acted in self-defence. The State says Coetzee ran after Thabethe, who was then stabbed while lying helplessly on the ground. Leon Coetzee, the man accused of murdering Thembinkosi Thabethe, after a furore over a WhatsApp message, has been denied bail. Coetzee, who appeared in the Pretoria North Magistrate's Court on Friday, is accused of stabbing Thabethe three times outside of his house in Green Acres Estate in Montana on 26 April. Thabethe died in hospital on 1 May. Thabethe, who also lives in the estate, went to confront Coetzee's wife about a message addressed to her on the estate's WhatsApp group.