Pretoria - Court GB at the Pretoria High Court was on Thursday heavily guarded after a murder convict claimed “he was going home”.
Brooklyn Peter Moon, 35, who was found guilty of murdering his pregnant wife, was overheard by a court orderly saying in the holding cells that he would be “leaving the court today”. The court did not want any surprises and called members of the tactical response team to guard the courtroom.
Eight heavily armed officers stood guard during mitigation of sentence proceedings.
Moon pleaded with Judge Winston Msimeki to give him a light sentence for the murder of Antoinette Botha.
He said he did not have prior convictions and was a good citizen.
Moon and his three co-accused – Thapelo Kekana, 28, Tshepiso Maluleke, 31, and Ugandan citizen Umalu Waluzimbi, 46 – were found guilty of conspiring to murder Botha in June 2008.
Moon’s legal representative, Aristotle Mathunzi, said: “The accused (Moon) started a small business where he owned two Quantum kombis which he used to transport employees of the Department of Home Affairs.
“He has a degree in marketing business management and a diploma in health. He also worked at Louis Pasteur and Pretoria East Netcare hospitals,” said Mathunzi.
He argued that a lengthy jail term would deprive Moon’s community from economically benefiting from his transport business, which brought in R50 000 a month.
Probation officer Miriam Kangende testified on a report she compiled on Kekana, 28, in which she recommended he be imprisoned.
However, she said when Kekana committed the crime he was 21 years of age and he has shown remorse. She added that he wanted to change after listening to a sermon by a Zionist preacher.
Asked to take the stand, Kekana said he was remorseful and acknowledged his role in Botha’s murder. “I was raised in a house which had rules and I understood that I would be punished if I broke those rules.
“I agree that I need to be punished for the mistake I made and I would like to ask for forgiveness from the family of the deceased for what I did,” he said.
The court also heard that Maluleke got married last year and had five children.
He also asked for leniency.
Botha’s body was found in a pool of blood in the bed of the couple’s Waverley home late on the afternoon of June 26, 2008, by Moon and a neighbour, Kobus Botha.
Botha testified that he did not know the couple well, but that Moon asked him that afternoon to accompany him into his home, as he suspected someone had broken in.
While Moon never stated his version and no evidence was led about it, the State suggested he had an affair with another woman and contracted his co-accused to kill his wife. After killing her, the co-accused ransacked the house and packed the loot into her Mercedes. They later dumped the vehicle.
Moon’s co-accused were convicted via DNA evidence and fingerprints found on the scene and on the car. Some also confessed.
Sentencing proceedings will commence on June 22.
The Star