Durban - An elderly man who killed a fellow senior citizen who had befriended him after taking pity on him was sentenced to an effective 10 years in the Durban High Court on Friday.
In sentencing Mpumelelo Sindane, Judge Dhaya Pillay said she considered as an aggravating factor the impact of his actions on society, which might see people being influenced into becoming less charitable.
He stood inexpressive in the dock, dressed in a blue overall.
In January Sindane turned on Isipingo pensioner Nadarajan Nayager and struck him with a metal rod “in an irrational, emotional state” because he was hurt and angry at not having been paid for his services as a gardener, the court heard.
Nayager’s family have rejected his version that he was a gardener, saying their compassionate, community-minded father, brother, uncle and brother-in-law had treated him as a friend and companion for 13 months after he had once come begging at their gate.
They provided him with three meals a day when he came to visit.
“He was with us over New Year’s Eve,” - a fortnight before he was killed - Nayager’s son, Yogan testified in aggravation of sentence.
“He came with us to family gatherings at the beach.
“It makes you think - should one go to the extent of assisting such people in future?”
The court found Sindane guilty of culpable homicide rather than murder and theft as he had originally been charged.
The charge became one of culpable homicide on the grounds that he had displayed more negligence than intent to kill Nayager and had left the premises not realising he was dead.
Sindane was sentenced to two years for theft to run concurrently with the decade for culpable homicide.
Pillay noted “the destruction in trust that cases like this cause”.
Sindane had told the court he resented being considered ungrateful by Nayager who, on the day of the attack, had just returned from 11 days’ holiday in Cape Town while Sindane had not been able to visit his family in Matatiele because of a lack of funds.
Both elderly men had their ailments.
Nayager, who was a year younger than his 67-year-old killer, suffered with coronary heart disease. Sindane used a walking stick after an accident while working on the mines years ago.
Pillay noted that Sindane chose to attack Nayager with a metal rod rather than his walking stick. He had also held a pillow over Nayager’s face.
Yogan stressed that his father had brought him up to be charitable.
He said his father’s career had been with the Social Pension Service where he helped people to get grants. After he retired, he continued his public spiritedness by being involved in the Rainbow Nation organisation, arranging community events, the Isipingo Community Police Forum and the Senior Citizens Organisation of Merebank.
“He would take an ordinary man off the street, offer him food. He would never judge him by his appearance, the colour of his skin. Nothing.”
He said his father was highly regarded in Isipingo.
“On the Isipingo Facebook page we would read (good) comments about him from people we did not even know. Dial (area code) 031- 902 and any random four digits and ask if they know Mr Nayager. They’ll tell how they got on with him.
“That’s the kind of person my dad was.”
Yogan said he had lost his mother during his last year of school.
“My father made sure I stayed away from things out there in society, like drugs, alcohol and getting into the wrong hands. For somebody to come into our home where all our memories are and brutally murder my dad.... makes it so hard to move forward.”
He also said his nieces and his sister once served Sindane cups of tea, but were still afraid to sleep in their own room.
The court heard that Sindane, who had a Grade 2 education, had spouses and four children whose ages range from 23 to six years and had lived with his sister in Malakazi.
He had previous convictions of housebreaking with intent to steal and theft, in 1989, for which he had served two years in jail.
The judge said she had “not weighed in previous convictions to any great extent” when considering his sentence.
After the proceedings, Yogan called 10 years “a good sentence for culpable homicide.
“But we wanted a murder conviction,” he said.
“The family will be in discussion about whether we can appeal.”
In an incident with some similarities last month, elderly businessman and museum owner Malcolm Anderson, of Richmond, was shot dead by a troubled employee he had hired in an act of charity.
The culprit, “Vossie” Vorster, then turned the gun on himself.
Independent on Saturday