Johannesburg - Jonathan Maharla first tried to strangle Michaela Manneson. Then his alleged accomplice, George Barquala, held a cloth doused in thinners over her nose. When that didn’t kill her, Maharla strangled her while Barquala held a plastic bag over her head.
The two took her body to Nancefield industrial area in Eldorado Park, where they stacked 30 tyres on top of her, poured thinners on the stack and lit it.
But despite the heinous crime, Maharla, Michaela’s brother-in-law, was on Monday given a 15-year jail term in the Johannesburg High Court sitting in Palm Ridge.
The sentence has outraged 16-year-old Michaela’s parents and women’s groups alike.
Ellen Manneson, Michaela’s mother, said she felt she had been coerced into signing the plea bargain by State prosecutor Adele de Klerk, who said their daughter’s killer “would be on the street like tomorrow” if they didn’t.
Maharla went into a plea bargain agreement with the State so that he would testify against Barquala, a Mozambican who has not been arrested and is believed to have fled to his home country.
An independent researcher specialising in gender violence, Lisa Vetten, slammed the plea bargain and sentence.
She said there needed to be legal representation for victims’ families so that they would be comfortable with their decisions after signing a plea bargain.
“Victims’ families should not be made to make decisions in a rush. The State benefits from a plea bargain because their time is not wasted and they can move to the next case, but a victim’s family can feel short-changed,” said Vetten.
People Opposing Women Abuse (Powa) were disappointed by the sentence.
“Powa calls for harsher sentencing when it comes to murder, as femicide in South Africa is a huge problem. It is disappointing that the accused enters into a plea bargain when the whereabouts of the accomplice is unknown,” said Nhlanhla Mokwena, Powa’s executive director.
“This kind of sentencing is very disturbing as a young person’s life was taken away… It simply says a woman and girl’s life is worth nothing, as most probably, with good behaviour, the perpetrator will serve less than 15 years.
“This type of sentencing emphasises that the justice system is patriarchal and will continue to bargain with girls’ and women’s lives,” said Mokwena.
Michaela was last seen alive by her parents on December 6 last year when she left for a party.
In his confession, Maharla said Michaela, drunk after a party, had been dropped off at his house. He and Barquala had also been drunk and high on drugs.
After he had woken her up to take her home, she had refused and an argument broke out. Michaela had insulted him, and he had lost his temper and throttled her until she lost consciousness. The two then overpowered and killed her.
The two men took Michaela’s body to the Nancefield industrial area to dispose of it.
After sentencing, as he made his way to the holding cells, Maharla stopped, looked Harry Fourie, Michaela’s father, in the eye and said “Sorry, man”.
“Voetsek, man,” responded Fourie.
Commenting after the sentencing, Fourie said: “We will get ill if we continue to think about it. We just have to move on.”
The Star