Cape Town -Forty-four-year-old warrant officer Steven Britz was planning a surprise getaway to celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary with his wife when he was shot dead execution style in the Klapmuts police station charge office in April 2014.
His widow, Lee-Anne Britz, will now never know where he planned to take her. Wiping away tears as she described the heartbreak she and her two sons had endured since his murder, she said she continued to feel numb.
On Thursday, she watched from the public gallery as Western Cape High Court judge Gayaat Salie-Hlophe sentenced former constable Luvuyo Ndevu to life behind bars for the premeditated murder.
He was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for robbery with aggravating circumstances. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
His co-accused Mlindi Mbaliso was sentenced to 22 years for the murder, and 11 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances. His sentences were also ordered to run concurrently.
The judge described Ndevu as a man who “clearly does not have a soul” and said the murder had been “the ultimate act of betrayal”.
Ndevu had worked alongside Britz at the Klapmuts police station, but had been suspended about a month before the April 16, 2014 murder.
The judge said he had been the mastermind, and had manipulated Mbaliso “for his own ends”, which was why she had given Mbaliso a lesser sentence.
The men had attacked the police station when Britz was manning it alone, and had shot him in the back of the head twice. The police safe was also raided and arms and ammunition stolen. Britz’s handgun was also missing.
The sentences brought no relief for Britz’s widow. Tears streaming down her face, she told the African News Agency (ANA) she had hoped to find closure.
Her eldest son, who was 19 years old at the time of the killing, was not at court as she said “he wanted to know nothing about it”, as it had completely devastated him.
Her other son, who was 11 years old at the time, and was now in grade 8, sat beside her quietly as his mother described the impact on the family.
Describing her husband as a family man, she said “he did everything for his boys, for us”.
Her only wish now was to find out who pulled the trigger of the gun that killed her husband. “Maybe then I will feel something.”
Both accused had showed no remorse when they testified in mitigation of sentence.
Ndevu said that while he was sorry a colleague had been murdered, he had no knowledge of the crime.
Mbaliso confessed that he had been the driver on the night of the attack, but claimed he did not know there was a plan to attack a police station and murder a police officer.
In an affidavit submitted to the court, Britz said she had had to be put on heavy medication for anxiety and depression.
As State prosecutor Kriban Pillay comforted her after sentencing, she said: “He was my everything.”
African News Agency