Pretoria - “Come quickly. We were shot.” These were the last words spoken by Katrien Jooste to her daughter Belinda, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday.
Belinda, through the prosecution, addressed a letter to Judge Lettie Malopa-Setshosa in which she set out her feelings following the murder of her mother and her father, Chris.
The couple were both in their 60s when they were gunned down while delivering meat in Soshanguve three years ago. They were robbed of a small amount of cash.
Their killers – Victor Simango, Solomon Selekane and Collen Malopo – had earlier been convicted on two charges of murder, robbery and the unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.
During sentencing proceedings on Wednesday, the State called for double life sentences for the trio.
In support of this and to emphasise the impact the killings had on the Jooste family, Belinda, who could not be at court, addressed the letter to the judge. She described how seconds after she was shot and shortly before she and her husband died of their bullet wounds, her mother phoned her.
“Nothing could have prepared me for that phone call on November 17, 2011… My whole life changed in an instant, as well as those of my family members.”
Her son’s life was shattered as his grandparents were his foundation.
“I remember every word my mother said to me when she called. They were probably the last words she ever spoke. None of us got to say goodbye. Both had died by the time I got to the scene and this picture will be imprinted in my brain forever.”
Chris was delivering meat to a shop in Soshanguve, while his wife remained in the car. As he left the shop he was accosted by a group of robbers who robbed him of his money pouch containing a few copper coins totalling about R3.50.
A struggle ensued and the robbers shot him before going to his wife in the car.
Realising her husband had been shot, she sprayed the robbers with pepper-spray, but she was then shot by the infuriated robbers.
Lawyers acting for all three accused begged the court for mercy, saying their clients were sorry for what they had done.
Selekane said he wasn’t armed and did not realise his friends were.
“It was the work of the devil,” he said through his lawyer.
Asked by the judge what that meant, it was said Selekane claimed he was simply in the wrong company at the wrong time.
His lawyer said Selekane was only 23 at the time of the incident and “was still learning life”. But the judge pointed out he already had two previous convictions by then. She questioned whether that was part of “learning life”.
The State asked the judge not to show any mercy as the trio were cold-blooded killers who had gunned down the couple for a few cents.
The judge was told the couple did not resist, apart from a few squirts from the woman’s pepper spray.
There was no need to kill them and it was clear that the three accused had no regard for life, the prosecution said. They will be sentenced on March 11.
Pretoria News