Cape Town – Two members of one of the most notorious gangs in Cape Town have been sentenced in the Western Cape High Court on five charges, including the murder of a State witness.
Last month, Ashwin Willemse and Waylin Abdullah, members of The Firm gang, were convicted on two counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, illegal possession of firearms and the illegal possession of ammunition.
At the time, State prosecutor advocate Lenro Badenhorst proved the State’s case beyond reasonable doubt in that the accused shot and killed Gregory Carelse, a Law Enforcement officer employed by the City of Cape Town’s community safety development department and a police reservist at the Bishop Lavis police station.
According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila, Carelse was a State witness after he witnessed a drive-by shooting which took place in Forel Street in Valhalla Park on October 17, 2017.
A year later, as the triple-murder trial was set to start at the high court, the State’s star witness, Carelse, was shot dead.
On October 18, 2018, Carelse told his son he was leaving their home to respond to a shooting in the community. He took his pistol with him.
Minutes later, when Carelse’s daughter left for work, his son heard shots and ran out to see whether his sister was safe. However, he witnessed his father’s murder as Willemse and Abdullah shot him 16 times.
Carelse’s firearm was also stolen.
Ntabazalila said Willemse was sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment: 22 years’ imprisonment for murder, 12 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances, 10 years for the illegal possession of a firearm and six years for the illegal possession of ammunition.
The court ordered some of his sentences to run concurrently, meaning Willemse will serve an effective 36 years in prison.
Abdullah was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment: 18 years’ imprisonment for murder, 10 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances, eight years’ imprisonment for the illegal possession of a firearm and four years’ imprisonment for the illegal possession of ammunition.
The court ordered some of Abdullah’s sentences to run concurrently, meaning he will serve an effective 29 years in prison.
The court also deemed the duo unfit to possess a firearm.
African News Agency (ANA)