Two men are to be sentenced today for being in possession of an Apple iPhone stolen during the murder, rape and armed robbery of Kalk Bay teenager Franziska Blöchliger in the Tokai Forest last year.
Jerome Moses, 25, and Daniel Easter, 33, appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court before magistrate Sylvia Mandla and pleaded guilty to the possession of stolen property.
At yesterday’s proceedings, the legal team – advocate Kevin Petersen for Moses, and Monique Carsten for Easter – urged the court to temper their punishment with mercy.
Petersen suggested a fine, with part of it suspended for Moses, while Carsten asked for an entirely suspended sentence, as Easter was unemployed, without income and unable to pay a fine.
Prosecutor Nicky Konisi, on the other hand, called for prison sentences for both, on the grounds that Moses, who had possession of the iPhone, had sought a buyer for it, and eventually sold it to Easter for R200.
She urged the court to consider the interests of society and justice when imposing sentence, as well as the
“particularly gruesome and brutal manner” in which the iPhone was stolen from the dead teenager.
Moses had created a market for the iPhone, and Easter had bought it without any questions as to where Moses had gotit, the prosecutor said.
She said the fact that there was a market for stolen property encouraged crime.
Both accused, in their written pleas of guilty, claimed to be deeply remorseful, as indicated by the fact that they had pleaded guilty, thereby accepting full responsibility for their actions.
Their lawyers said the accused had also saved the court the burden of a fully-fledged trial.
With them in the dock was Jonathan Jonas, also charged with possession of stolen property. However, he has chosen to plead not guilty, and his case was separated from the other two. He, too will appear in court again today, to be informed of his date of trial.
Moses’s counsel told the court he had successfully completed eight weeks of drug rehab. Carsten told the court Easter was the father of two children aged 10 and 8, and their primary caregiver.