Cape Town - A member of the feared Mongrels gang, who was sentenced to 44 years behind bars for hijacking a former SAA pilot, a crime that shocked the country at the time, could be freed this year after a full Bench of the Western Cape High Court this week slashed his sentence by almost half.
The court ordered that the new sentence be backdated to 2001 which means that, in terms of the law applicable at the time he was sentenced, Moegamat Kashief Hendricks should have be-come eligible for consideration for release on parole in 2009.
Now the parole board could re-lease him in the next few months.
Under the previous sentence, Hendricks would have had to remain in jail until 2026 because the trial judge issued a directive that he had to serve at least 25 years before he could be considered for parole.
But, on appeal a full Bench found that the judge’s directive constituted a serious misdirection.
Hendricks of Mitchells Plain was one of four members of the Mongrels gang involved in the hijacking of then-SAA pilot André Viljoen at about 3.30am on July 3, 1998.
Viljoen was on his way home from Cape Town International Airport and had stopped at an ATM in Main Road Rondebosch, when Hendricks and Percy Rhoode accosted him at gunpoint.
They forced him into the passenger seat of his car and fired a gunshot which grazed his ear, before taking him on an hour-long nightmare ride through various suburbs to a field in Mitchells Plain
There Viljoen was ordered to lay on the ground, face down and with his arms stretched out in front of him before he was shot in the head.
He miraculously survived and today the bullet still remains lodged in his brain.
It has affected his eyesight to the extent that he cannot fly or drive. “None of that can be squashed,” he said. He was surprised at the court’s decision, saying that he was not informed about it or invited to participate in the process.
Viljoen said he was disappointed because the previous sentence was meant to protect society. “I feel sorry for all South Africans who have to live with the shadow of violence and crime hanging over them.”
Viljoen and his wife Sandy relocated to West Sussex in the UK in 1999, where he works in the procurement sector of the aviation industry. They have had two daughters.
“My career at SAA ended that night,” he said.
The couple decided to move so that they could have “a clean break”.
They visited South Africa often but, after Sandy was nearly hijacked in Claremont four years ago, decided to return only once a year to “fill up our tanks”.
“We miss South Africa terribly but we won’t be coming back. We come back because we love the people, the country, and our friends and family. It hurts not being there.”
Rhoode and Hendricks were convicted of the attempted murder and in March 2001 Judge Wilfred Thring, who has since retired, sentenced the men to an effective 44 years behind bars.
A third accused, Edward Jansen, who was convicted of aggravated robbery, kidnapping and firearm-related charges, was sentenced to an effective 19 years in jail.
A fourth, Rashaad Adams, received a suspended sentence for being in possession of Viljoen’s stolen vehicle.
Judge Thring raised concerns about the fact that the men were members of the Mongrels. He issued a directive that Rhoode and Hendricks should not be released on parole before serving 25 years in jail, and that Jansen should serve at least 19 years.
However, Hendricks appealed against the sentence to a full Bench of the High Court on the basis that, in terms of the law, the court could not issue such a directive.
In a judgment handed down this week, Judge Pat Gamble said: “It is therefore important, in my view, that when imposing sentence judicial officers should avoid consideration of the fact that the accused may serve a lesser sentence than that imposed by the court because of the leniency of, or due to policy considerations applied by, the Department of Correctional Services. The sentence imposed is the sentence which the court believes is just in the circumstances, due regard being had to the general principles applicable to sentencing. Consideration of the possibility of early parole is an impermissible incursion into the functions of the executive and will constitute a misdirection.”
If Judge Thring believed that the men were deserving of spending at least 25 years behind bars, he was obliged to impose that effective period of imprisonment, he added.
“(Hendricks) was aged 22 years at the time of sentence, A sentence of 44 years has the consequence that (he) is liable (subject to presidential pardons and the like) to stay in prison until the age of 66. It reflects a stage towards to the end of one’s working life,” he said.
He slashed the sentence to an effective 25 years and ordered Legal Aid South Africa, which represented Hendricks, to bring the judgment to the attention of Rhoode and Jansen.
Judges André Blignault and Babalwa Mantame agreed.
Weekend Argus