Cape Town - In less than a month, two of the four men involved in the Brett Goldin and Richard Bloom hijacking, robbery and double murder case that rocked the country in 2006, will be released on parole.
Jade Wyngaard and Nurshad Davids, who were sentenced to 15 years each after being convicted of hijacking, armed robbery and kidnapping in the case, were denied parole three consecutive times up until last August. But on June 26, they will be out of prison after a postponed parole hearing last year worked in their favour.
For Denise Goldin, Brett’s mother, her only hope is that they have been “fully rehabilitated” and that the tragic loss of her son and his friend, at the very least, stands as a reminder to parents to bring their children up with a sense of respect for all members in a society.
“I prefer not to think about their release,” she says, “I prefer just to accept the fact that this is the way the system works and I sincerely hope that they have been fully rehabilitated as has been promised to us, and that they will do their utmost to be productive members of society.”
She said she and her family, and the Bloom family too, hoped their release would be a turning point for Wyngaard and Davids “after the damage and hurt that was caused to so many people”.
“Ever since this tragedy I have a feeling that the future of this country and its growth lies in the hands of the mothers of this country and I think it’s vitally important that children are taught from a very early age to know the difference between right and wrong and to have a good moral background. You don’t need to have money to do that. It can be done in the poorest and the most deprived of homes,” she says.
Last Tuesday, a documentary titled Night Terror on the double murder case was shown on DStv on the Fox Crime Channel (and was broadcast again on Saturday evening), and family members were anxious that it would undo some of the emotional healing that has happened since the murders.
The broadcast reignited activity on a Facebook page that was set up during the various attempts at parole to lobby against it, but the site says that the parole board concluded that the two men could be better integrated into society under supervision (house arrest) after serving two thirds of their sentences, rather than serving their entire sentences and then being released without supervision.
Goldin says that the two families of the victims wished Wyngaard and Davids well and hoped that they would, after their release, “make something of their lives” and would pass on those lessons to their future families one day. After seeing the documentary this week, Goldin said that it validated for her “that time doesn’t heal and the pain never goes away”.
“When I saw the pictures of Brett and Richard and the happy faces on the screen it was a very hard reality check. I have to come to terms with the fact that I did have a son and I did have another life and I had all those wonderful memories of him.”
Bloom and Goldin were hijacked outside a Camps Bay house at the Easter weekend in 2006. They were forced into the boot of the car, and were later stripped naked with their hands tied and shot at close range in the heads. Accompanying Davids and Wyngaard on the crime spree were Shavaan Marlie and Clinton Davids who were convicted of murder and are serving 28 years in prison.
In 2020, they would be eligible for parole.
Cape Times