Cape Town - The mother of convicted gang member Abdur-Rahiem Israel said she was unaware of the severity of his actions as her son awaits sentencing on his conviction of 19 charges related to gangsterism.
Israel was charged with 22 counts for perpetrating offences in five incidents in Mitchells Plain between December 2015 and October 2018.
The State said he committed these offences by aiding and abetting criminal gang activity in relation to the “Americans” gang.
He was found guilty for the murders of Jacobus Pietersen and Shahied Sallie and the attempted murder of Aime Kinzozi on three separate occasions.
He was further found guilty on 16 other counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of a firearm without a licence and unlawful possession of ammunition.
Israel had been in custody awaiting trial since 2018 and held a straight face when Judge Elizabeth Baartman delivered judgment in the Western Cape High Court.
His mother, who does not want to be named, burst into tears, clutching onto his arm as Israel was handcuffed in court and taken back to the holding cell.
She said: “I don’t want people thinking that I don’t stand by my son, I do not condone what he has done but I’m also not aware of what has been going on. I don’t want people saying ‘the mother knew’ because I don’t know nothing.”
Judge Baartman criticised the standard of policing in her judgment. She said people who were identified by witnesses and Israel as being involved in the offences should have been charged alongside him.
“It brings the entire administration of justice into disrepute when the law is selectively enforced and leads to vigilante attacks. It further lends credence to the oft repeated accusation that police operate in league with the gangs,” Judge Baartman said.
Israel’s versions of events were rejected as a result of what the judge described as “improbabilities”, “inconceivable” and “fabricated”.
“The accused’s versions were not credible and cannot be believed. He was often argumentative in cross examination when confronted with improbabilities in his different versions. The exculpatory versions are rejected as not reasonably possibly true,” she said.
What the judge did believe however was that he only joined the Americans gang while in prison. Nonetheless he was convicted under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) relating to his involvement in gangsterism.
Advocates Christiaan de Jongh and Luzaan Williams represented the State while advocate Nawaal Abdurahman represented the accused.