CAPE TOWN - An Atlantis gang member has been convicted in the Western Cape High Court on two charges of murder - one involving the killing of a 5-year-old girl – and two charges of attempted murder.
Antonio Booysen, 25, a member of the Terrible Americans gang and self-confessed drug dealer, was found guilty of murdering Cecilia Hartenberg, 5, and Melicia Claasen, 34, during a rival gang shoot out in Gullhaven Court in Atlantis on New Years Day last year.
Claasen died at the scene, while Cecilia was rushed to hospital but died on January 2 after being declared brain dead at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital.
Booysen’s co-accused, Nadiem Thorpe and Cheslyn Johnson, were found not guilty and acquitted of all charges while Booysen was also acquitted of the attempted murder of Jenene Rhodes and contravening the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca).
The nail in Booysen’s coffin came from three witnesses who had positively identified him as the shooter on the night of January 1 2020.
According to evidence, the shooting appeared to target State witness Ryno Anthony, who sustained a number of gunshot wounds after he was accosted by Booysen.
Anthony, a rival gang member, had been standing speaking to Claasen when he felt someone grabbing him around the neck from behind, before several shots were fired and he was hit in the back, neck and shoulder.
In handing down judgment, Western Cape High Court Judge Ashley Binns-Ward, said: “It is probably so that the shooters had no actual intention to kill or injure Cecilia Hartenberg or Brandon Graaf and possibly also not Melicia Claasen, but they must have appreciated that firing a fusillade of bullets in a relatively crowded area was liable to cause death or serious injury to bystanders, and they proceeded to do just that, reckless of the potential consequences.”
Binns-Ward said he rejected evidence given by Booysen - who had pleaded not guilty to all charges against him - as he “was not a good witness”.
Booysen, who admitted to having joined the gang when he was 16, denied his role in the shooting and claimed to have been at a party in Beacon Hill since the day before the shooting and had only returned home at 10pm on the night of the shooting, “deeply intoxicated”.
“His evidence was inconsistent and contradictory in material respects and implausible in others. He gave conflicting evidence about the time of his return from the party in Beacon Hill.
“He variously put the time of his return as in the morning and in the late afternoon. The conflict was not immaterial,” said Binns-Ward.
Attempts to reach Cecilia’s family on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Cape Times