Cape Town – Two men are to be sentenced on Friday, for the possession of a iPhone, stolen during the murder, rape and armed robbery of Kalk Bay teenager, Franziska Blöchliger, in the Tokai Forest last year.
Jerome Moses, 25, and Daniel Easter, 33, appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court, before magistrate Sylvia Mandla, and pleaded guilty to the possession of stolen property.
At Thursday’s proceedings, the legal team – Advocate Kevin Petersen, for Moses, and Monique Carsten for Easter – urged the court to temper their punishment with mercy.
Petersen suggested a fine, with part of it suspended for Moses, while Carsten asked for an entirely suspended sentence, as Easter was unemployed, without income and thus unable to pay a fine.
Prosecutor Nicky Konisi, on the other hand, called for prison sentences for both, on the grounds that Moses, who had possession of the iPhone, had sought a buyer for it, and had eventually sold it to Easter for R200.
She urged the court to consider the interests of society, and justice, when imposing sentence, as well as the “particularly gruesome and brutal manner” in which the iPhone was stolen from the deceased teenager.
Moses had created a market for the iPhone, and Easter had bought it without any questions as to where Moses had gotten the iPhone, the prosecutor said. She said the fact that there was a market for stolen property, encouraged crime.
Both accused, in their written pleas of guilty, claimed to be deeply remorseful, as indicated by the fact that they had pleaded guilty, thereby accepting full responsibility for their actions.
Their lawyers said the two accused had also saved the court the burden of a fully-fledged trial. With them in the dock was Jonathan Jonas, also charged with possession of stolen property.
However, he has chosen to plead not guilty, and his case was separated from the other two. He, too will appear in court again on Friday, to be informed of his date of trial. Moses’ counsel told the court that Moses had successfully completed eight weeks of drug rehabilitation, as his drug addiction had caused him trouble to the extent that he had landed in prison.
Counsel added: “He knows what it’s like to be in prison, and now understands that crime does not pay.” Carsten told the court that Easter was from the Congo, but that he was in the country legally and that his papers were in order.
Although single, he was the father of two children, aged 10 and 8, and their primary care-giver.
She urged the court to be led by the interests of justice in passing sentence, and not to be influenced by any possible public outcry.
She said the case had attracted extensive media coverage and, as a result, employers were reluctant to engage him. She said Easter did not have money to pay a fine.