Johannesburg - Alfred Zwane sat shaking in the dock, his head bowed next to his two fellow convicted killers as he was told he was part of a “vicious gang that terrorised the (Muldersdrift) community”.
Just a few metres away sat Anton Botha, father of one of the trio’s victims, 13-year-old Alyssa Botha, his mouth pursed as though he was on the verge of tears.
Judge Moses Mavundla convicted Zwane, Samson Mandlezi and Manir Ubisi on 18 separate charges for a series of brutal crimes inflicted on residents of Muldersdrift, and pulled no punches while sentencing them on Thursday.
The three were sentenced to 198 years each for their crimes, which included two murders, two attempted murders and four armed robberies.
But because the sentences will run concurrently, the trio will only serve a single life term – an effective 25 years – before they can apply for parole.
Two years ago, the Botha family were robbed of their teenage daughter after the three men tried to rob the family in their driveway.
The three men killed Alyssa, wounded Anton in the abdomen – eventually resulting in the loss of a kidney – and shot his other daughter twice in the legs. Meghan was 17 years old at the time.
As Mavundla recounted the crime during his sentencing, Anton’s eyes reddened as he sat next to Meghan in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court gallery.
He removed his glasses and looked ahead intently, while Zwane’s thin frame shook slightly.
Zwane’s fellow murderers didn’t move a muscle as they leaned over in the dock throughout the entire sentencing.
Prior to the sentencing, all three men tried to argue in mitigation through their various lawyers that they were young at the time of the crime – 25, 21 and 25 respectively – and that because of their poor, uneducated backgrounds the court should show sympathy.
After proceedings, Meghan said: “They wanted mercy and sympathy because they were young. Alyssa was 13 and they showed her no mercy.”
This sentiment was echoed by Mavundla, who said people at the age of 18 were allowed to vote, meaning someone in their 20s could not be treated differently from any other accused.
At one point during the sentencing, Mavundla slipped into seemingly xenophobic territory, describing the three men, who are originally from Mozambique, as choosing to come to South Africa only to “plunder” the country’s resources.
“It is a known fact that in many of such crimes, our brothers from Mozambique are involved in these types of crimes.”
He went on to say the trio should be handled without sympathy, to create an example to “those on the borders” who would commit similar crimes.
Botha told reporters he was happy the judge had given a harsh sentence, as it finally provided his family with some sense of closure. He said it had been very difficult to once again hear the circumstances surrounding the shooting that killed his daughter, which left him critically injured and his surviving daughter’s promising sporting career in tatters.
“I’m just glad to know they’re off the streets.”
Mavundla did, however, grant each of the men leave to appeal the conviction and sentencing, but it’s currently unclear if they will tread such legal avenues.
“NPA welcomes the sentence and hopes the victims of these crimes will find solace in the fact that these perpetrators are removed from society in a quest to restore the safety of citizens,” said National Prosecuting Authority regional spokeswoman Phindi Louw.
Judge’s ‘prejudice’ slammed
It was a massive generalisation for Judge Mavundla to say that the majority of armed robberies and similar violent crimes were committed by Mozambicans or even foreigners in general, says Gareth Newham, head of the governance, crime and justice division at the Institute for Security Studies.
Newham said despite the general perception that crimes in South Africa are supposedly the work of foreigners, there was absolutely no research to back up such claims as only about 3 percent of South Africa’s prison population was made up of foreign nationals.
Statistically, the majority of crimes are committed by those born in that nation, according to Newham.
Newham believes that foreigners who come here, generally without connections in the local crime world, are usually not the people running the major criminal syndicates in South Africa.
He added that such xenophobic perceptions of criminals are leading South Africans to believe that all foreign nationals are suspicious.
The Star