How justice was served in 2014

A policeman stands behind Ntokozo Radebe during his sentencing to nine life sentences for the murder, rape and kidnapping of Anelisa Mkhonto and cousins Yonelisa and Zandile Mali. Picture: Masi Losi

A policeman stands behind Ntokozo Radebe during his sentencing to nine life sentences for the murder, rape and kidnapping of Anelisa Mkhonto and cousins Yonelisa and Zandile Mali. Picture: Masi Losi

Published Dec 19, 2014

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As South Africa this year celebrated 20 years of democracy, several apartheid-era killers turned to the high court in Pretoria in a bid to be released from jail.

Some have served 20 years or more behind bars and feel they have paid for their sins and are now entitled to be freed on parole.

These include Eugene de Kock, the man nicknamed “Prime Evil”, who was in 1996 sentenced to two life terms and a further 212 years for six murders.

While the parole board recommended his release, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha refused to free him.

The minister said De Kock first had to engage with the family of his victims, which he had now done.

Chris Hani killer Clive Derby-Lewis turned to the court a few times this year, asking for parole or medical parole. The 78-year-old has terminal cancer and is being cared for at a city hospital.

He has been in jail since 1993.

The two, together with Ferdi Barnard who was sent to jail for life for, among others, killing anti-apartheid activist Dr David Webster, will know at the end of next month whether they will be released.

While the high court had the usual mixed bag of civil and criminal cases, cases regarding children took centre stage on both platforms.

The court heard gruesome evidence regarding the injuries suffered by 2-year-old Baby L, who was allegedly so badly assaulted by her mother and her boyfriend, that she is now a vegetable.

The pair are facing charges of attempted murder and child abuse, while the little girl is being cared for at a place of safety.

Doctors testified how Baby L could not walk, eat by herself or talk – all due to severe brain damage.

Her alleged attackers claimed she fell downstairs and off a washing machine. Their case will be back in court next year.

Cheers of jubilation rang out in court as the killer and rapist of three Diepsloot toddlers, Ntokozo Radebe, was sentenced to nine life terms. Graphic evidence of how cousins Yonelisa, 2, and Zandile Mali, 3, were raped and then killed, emerged in court.

Radebe had also raped and killed 5-year-old Anelisa Mkhonto a few weeks before the Mali cousins.

A judge in the case of the rape and abuse of a 13-month-old baby, turned down the appeal of the baby’s mother against her 20-year jail sentence. Her boyfriend also appealed against his life sentence.

The mother was convicted as she did not lift a hand when her boyfriend raped the baby.

This child is still alive and being cared for in a place of safety, as in the case of Baby L.

The court also heard the grim tale of a newborn baby who was stuffed into a clothing locker because nurses at a Limpopo hospital thought she was dead. It emerged a day later – when noises were heard from the locker – that the baby was alive. However, she died later.

The nurses told the mother that her baby was “stillborn”.

The Limpopo MEC for Health admitted liability on behalf of the hospital and agreed to pay the mother R70 000 in damages – from the pockets of the taxpayer.

Another case emanating from court and which made headlines this year, was the tale of the two babies switched at birth.

They were born in August 2010 in the same government hospital, one a boy and the other a girl to different parents.

The saga of the swopped babies only came to light recently – after one of the mothers and her partner took paternity tests in a case involving maintenance.

It emerged that neither of them were parents of their child.

A judge appointed Centre for Child Law head, Professor Ann Skelton, as curator to find a solution.

She recommended that each mother kept the baby she was given at birth, with right of access to their biological children.

The case will be back in court next year for a final ruling on the matter.

The murder of Faerie Glen mother Chanelle Henning, who was gunned down three years ago after she dropped her son at a crèche, also made some inroads this year.

While the name of her estranged husband Nico Henning was mentioned throughout the murder trial, it was only this year that one of the killers, Andre Gouws, implicated him.

According to Gouws, Nico initiated the murder.

Nico was arrested and will appear in court next month.

Gouws and co-accused Ambrose Monye were in February sent to jail for life for their part in the killing.

Two life terms were in August meted out to the serial killer dubbed “Snake” for his reign of terror which involved violently raping six women, aged between 12 and 43.

Oupa Mashigo targeted vulnerable women and lured them to deserted spots, where he raped and attacked them.

In sentencing Mashigo, the judge gave him an hour-long tongue lashing.

Martin Badenhorst, the man who read from the Bible for his wife while she was dying, was eventually sentenced after being on trial for five years. He shot his wife Yolanda, while their toddler son was watching in the doorway.

Badenhorst’s wife begged him to phone an ambulance, but he decided it would do her soul more good if he read to her from the Bible.

He then hid her body under a duvet before leaving the house.

Her body was discovered the next day by the police.

The taxpayer, as usual, had to dig deep in his/her pocket this year.

There were the run-of-the-mill unlawful arrest claims against the police. These included the R900 000 the police (taxpayer) had to pay to a Brits man for hitting him in the eye while they were firing at protesters.

It was, however, claims against the health authorities which were in abundance.

In one such case the MEC for Health in Gauteng (the taxpayer) had to pay R6.1 million to a mother whose child was born with cerebral palsy due to complications at birth.

This is only one in a number of claims in which infants are now disabled due to lack of care while their mothers delivered them.

Then there were a few lessons to be learnt this year – don’t tear up a traffic ticket, as it is seen as malicious damage to state property and can earn you a criminal record.

A motorist found this out the hard way and although the high court eventually overturned his conviction, it had cost him dearly in legal fees.

The court also found that free speech was not an absolute right.

This was the verdict in a case in which several freedom of expression institutes asked the court to rule that the media could not be criminally tried for committing defamation, but rather civilly.

Pretoria News

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