Johannesburg - To the end, the men denied kidnapping, raping and killing 14-year-old Sinovuyo Nokoyo.
The attack took place last year on the night of November 9 in Tshepisong, west of Joburg.
The four accused - Xolile Phuthumane, Nhlanhla Mthethwa, Sakhile Baroyi and Nhlanhla Xulu - pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Aged between 20 and 22, they were on Thursday found guilty in the Johannesburg High Court on two counts of rape, murder and kidnapping.
The court is sitting at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court because of renovations in Joburg.
Sinovuyo was raped, smothered with a plastic bag and strangled with electrical cords. A passer-by found her dead the next day in a stretch of veld.
Throughout the trial, the accused denied all the charges levelled against them. Acting Judge Mokone Moloto on Thursday dismissed Mthethwa’s evidence during the trial that Sinovuyo had been his girlfriend.
The judge said the court accepted the testimony of three friends of the accused who were with the gang before the crime.
Judge Moloto said he accepted the three witnesses’ version that they saw Phuthumane grab the teen and undress her with Mthethwa’s assistance.
He also accepted that one of the accused, Xulu, said before the other three left that those who were not interested should leave.
One of the three, Baroyi, told the witnesses who left the scene that the girl should be murdered as she had called out the name of accused one, Phuthumane.
He also ruled that the accused had planned the crime carefully.
Judge Moloto said Mthethwa had fabricated the evidence that he was in a relationship with the girl when DNA results linked him to the rape.
He also accepted the evidence by Dr Tinyiko Zelda Nkondo, who examined the body. Nkondo had testified that there were no injuries on Sinovuyo’s sexual organs.
Sinovuyo’s friend - who can’t be named as she is a minor - denied Mthethwa’s version, telling the court that Sinovuyo would have told her about the relationship.
Judge Moloto is expected to hand down sentence on Monday.
The Star