Durban - Three men who armed themselves with knives before they went and attacked a couple have each been sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment.
The men, who “acted like cowards”, strangled a woman who was in frail health with her own oxygen tube.
“It is clear the offences were premeditated,” Durban High Court Judge Shyam Gyanda said on Friday.
Meshack Matabane, 30, Siyabonga Innocent Xaba, 24, and Khulekani Wonderboy Mathonsi, 31, were sentenced to a further 18 years’ imprisonment each for robbery with aggravating circumstances. The sentences are to run concurrently.
The trio murdered Shongweni couple John Noble, 72, and his wife of 50 years, Hester, 68, at their smallholding on November 6 last year.
They had forced their way onto their premises and attacked the husband first in the garage by assaulting him and gagging his mouth with sticky tape.
The post-mortem report revealed that he had died of deep scalp bruising, haemorrhaging of the brain and fractured ribs.
The men then proceeded to attack his wife, an emphysema patient who depended on bottled oxygen, in her bedroom upstairs. She was found strangled with her own oxygen tube.
She also suffered a ruptured spleen, fractured ribs and was throttled by Mathonsi.
After murdering the couple, the gang then ransacked their house, stealing jewellery, electrical goods, a welding machine and the couple’s Honda Civic car, among other things.
“They went armed with knives and, like cowards, they attacked the couple. Mrs Hester Noble was in frail health and even required oxygen during the day. Matabane and Mathonsi bit the hand that fed them, as they were previously employed by the Nobles,” Judge Gyanda said. “This was a revenge attack.”
He told the trio that “serious offences need to be met with serious sentences. People like you ask for sympathy; did you show sympathy to the Nobles?”
The judge said South Africans were tired of living like prisoners in the own homes.
“The people living in this country are tired of living in hostage-like situations. We, the general public, are obliged to live in ‘prisons’ with high walls, burglar gates, alarms and all other forms of security to prevent people like you preying on us,” he said.
“Everyone is working hard for a living and, as a result of actions like this, we all are affected and must bear the consequences. House robberies and attacks on farmers in slightly isolated areas are becoming prevalent.”
The judge said a witness, the couple’s domestic worker, had described John Noble as a “good-hearted” man.
The men had displayed their brazen arrogance by returning to the home after murdering the couple to steal their compressor, which had to be transported by vehicle, he said, adding they had taken their time, even smoking leisurely in the house.
After sentencing, all three men applied for leave to appeal, but the court rejected the applications.
“The court did not make a mistake in any of its assessments,” Judge Gyanda said. “Another court will not come to a different finding and there is no reasonable chance of success of an appeal.”
Daily News