Although his bid to appeal and overturn a murder conviction and 18-year prison sentence failed in court this week, Rajiv Narandas is “100 percent” certain he will be acquitted eventually.
Narandas, 29, was charged with murder after he stabbed Veenand Singh with a Swiss army knife during a brawl outside a Sandton nightclub in 2008.
However, judges Rean Strydom and Motsamai Makume reduced Narandas’s sentence to 15 years when the matter came before them at the South Gauteng High Court on Wednesday, extending his bail.
The judges said they took into account Narandas’s age and the fact that he was part of a group when Singh was attacked and killed.
As his next resort to clear his name, the controversial businessman reportedly intends calling on the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Narandas, who did not want to comment on Wednesday’s outcome, shared some of his plans for 2016 with Independent Media: “I am launching four seminars in January, at a hall in Durban, free of charge for all public to attend (sic).”
Bashanta Sannasy, Singh’s girlfriend, expressed her disappointment with the court’s findings this week.
Sannasy, who was present when Narandas and her “soul mate” Singh clashed and has been at every court sitting since the murder charge was first put to Narandas in 2009, said it seemed as if the justice system was flawed.
She said she planned to approach the National Prosecuting Authority to better understand the stance taken by state prosecutor Adele Barnard to not oppose bail.
Sunday Tribune