Durban - AMID tight security, Durban businessman and alleged gang leader, Yegen Naidoo, has been sentenced to a total of 80 years in jail for a grenade attack that killed a sleeping nine-year-old girl and her grandmother and injured other relatives.
Judge Ronel Tolmay sentenced Naidoo, 44, to two life terms for the December 2006 murders of nine-year-old Yetska Michaela Pillay, of Reservoir Hills, and her grandmother, Patricia Bangar Pillay, 53, of Mpumalanga.
The Malvern businessman also received eight years each for the attempted murder of Yetska’s father, Kevin Pillay, 41, and his sister, Daphne Simone Pillay, 23.
He was sentenced to a further seven years each for conspiracy to commit murder and possession of a hand grenade.
The sentences will run concurrently, meaning Naidoo will serve an effective 25 years in jail.
Police, including heavily armed Tactical Response Team members, were posted at the Nelspruit High Court after threats that on Wednesday proceedings would be disrupted and the victims’ family intimidated.
Police had received intelligence on Tuesday that a Durban gang, Bad Company, which Naidoo was accused of leading, had made its way from Mariannhill to Mbombela (Nelspruit). A source said police in Durban were also on high alert as the gangsters were expected to “mourn” the imprisonment of their alleged leader.
This, the source said, was generally marked with the burning of cars and spinning of tyres in Mariann-hill, the area in which it operated.
Naidoo, who was acquitted 15 years ago in the sensational R31.4 million SBV robbery, reacted with shock and disbelief at his sentence. He put his head down and walked to the grille, spectators at the court said.
Naidoo did not signal whether he would seek leave to appeal. But he has 14 days to do so.
He was remanded to the notorious Barberton Prison Farm, about 50km from Mbombela. Shortly after sentencing, however, his advocate asked the court to transfer him to another prison.
His co-accused, Mohammed Ismael Khan, who implicated him in the grenade attack, is serving a life sentence in the same prison.
It is unclear if the transfer request will be granted.
A prison source said Barberton was a farm prison and conditions were “rough and tough”.
“Prisoners here work on the farms. But, if the prisoner is found to be a high security risk, he will remain inside, possibly isolated for some time. It is not an easy life. It is all about survival…”
In mitigation of sentence, Naidoo’s advocate asked the court not to impose the maximum sentence on each count as he was a family man with a wife and children.
State prosecutor Johan Kotze said Naidoo needed to provide exceptional circumstances as to why he should not be jailed for life.
In aggravation of sentence, Daphne Pillay, 23, who sustained injuries to her feet during the explosion, told the court about the emotional strain her family had endured in the past seven years after the brutal death of her mother and niece.
Daphne Pillay, who was 16 at the time, said the aftermath of the explosion had taken a severe emotional toll on her and her family.
She described the past seven years as traumatic and said life had not been normal anymore.
“After the explosion I was paranoid and on edge all the time. I sometimes still feel fear when I think of the events of that fateful night.”
She said soon after the explosion, she and her brother moved out of their childhood home.
“We used to have family gatherings there all the time. We have been robbed of that.
“We cannot go back to that house,” she said. “It was mother’s home and she is not there anymore. The memories are just too painful.”
Speaking last night, Pillay said she was relieved justice had been served.
“Yesterday’s sentencing gives me hope in the South African justice system. It tells me that people cannot get away with such terrible crimes,” she said.
“I am also indebted to the police - especially the Durban Organised Crime Unit - for cracking this case.
“Without them, justice would not have been served. My mother and niece’s killers would still be walking the streets.”
An emotional Kevin Pillay said he finally felt like he could breathe after sentence was passed.
“It gives me some closure that these thugs are behind bars. But the emotional scars of losing my daughter and mother in such a brutal way will never go away. It will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
He also praised the Mbombela and Durban Organised Crime units for the professional and efficient manner in which they worked.
He thanked Durban’s Lieutenant Mukesh Panday, Captain Sterling Titus and Warrant Officers Ajith Singh and Asogan Pillay for working around the clock to finalise the investigation.
“Some of these guys are on suspension but it did not stop them from completing what they started. They went beyond the call of duty. For that I will always be indebted,” he said.
Last year a warrant of arrest was issued for Naidoo after he had been implicated in the grenade attack by his two co-accused - both convicted killers.
During the trial it emerged that he had sold the grenade to the two killers and lent them his car to go to Mbombela.
On December 23, 2006, Yetska had been spending the Christmas holidays with her father, Kevin, at his Mbombela home, when a grenade was thrown into the room in which she had been sleeping. It exploded next to her bed, killing her and her grandmother.
Her parents were divorced and she had lived with her mother in Reservoir Hills.
In 2010, Zameer Achmed Khan, 51, of Moorton, Chatsworth, and hit man, Mohammed Ismael Khan, of Belfort in the Eastern Cape, were sentenced to life imprisonment for premeditated murder.
Mohammed had confessed that he had been hired by Zameer to throw the grenade into the house. He said Zameer believed his estranged girlfriend, Verusha Govender, was in the house and he had wanted to kill her.
They received a further sentence of 20 years each for attempted murder and are serving their concurrent sentences at the Westville and Barberton prisons.
Last week when Naidoo was convicted, Tolmay said it was clear that Naidoo had conspired with Zameer Achmed Khan to blast the house.
They would have foreseen that such planned action would have resulted in death, she said.
During Zameer and Mohammed’s trial,
Naidoo was accused of leading a Durban gang, Bad Company, and organising the hit.
Mohammed had told the court he had been instructed by Zameer and Naidoo – his gang leader – to throw the grenade, for which Zameer had paid Naidoo R5 000.
Daily News