Leila Samodien

THE State has rubbished claims by Gcinikhaya Makoma, one of the St James Church killers, that the consequences of his role in the 1993 massacre led him to commit crime.

Makoma is being sentenced along with eight other men for a cash van heist in Parow in 2007. The driver was killed when the robbers shot at the van with automatic rifles.

On Monday, Makoma’s advocate, Ellen Fitz-Patrick, argued in the Western Cape High Court that her client should be given a lesser sentence because of his “unique” past.

His entire adult life, she said, had been shaped by the St James Church massacre because, after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had granted him amnesty in 1998, he could not find a fixed job as a result of his “notoriety”. He also had to leave Cape Town because he had received death threats from a right-wing organisation.

However, State advocate Greg Wolmarans argued yesterday that the actions of a young, political activist were vastly different to those of an adult robber.

Sentencing proceedings were due to continue today.