‘Be a man, admit what you did’ - judge tells convicted murderer

Published Oct 17, 2018

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Durban - “It is time you man up, admit that what you did was wrong, and show your children and your family that you’re a man.”

This was the advice of Judge Shyam Gyanda before he sentenced businessman Rajiv Sewnarain to life imprisonment - again - for the murder of his wife, Shanaaz.

The mother of two was shot dead and her body found on the outskirts of Folweni (near Isipingo) in 2010.

Sewnarain was previously sentenced to life imprisonment for Shanaaz’s murder and had spent eight years in prison when he decided earlier this year that he was not in his proper senses when he made a guilty plea before a magistrate in 2010.

He was convicted yesterday in the retrial and given the same sentence again in the Durban High Court.

In his 2010 guilty plea he had confessed to organising a hit because his marriage was fraught with arguments and because his wife of 20 years was always nagging him. However, he later changed his mind and claimed he was forced by police to say that he hired two hit men and paid them R30 000 to murder his wife in a staged hijacking.

More than 20 witnesses testified, including his friend, Soonil Roopram, who told the court that Sewnarain had admitted to him, two days after his wife’s funeral, that he had a girlfriend who worked at an escort agency.

The State’s version was that Sewnarain, who ran a successful business with his wife, was having an affair. Because they were married in community of property, he decided to kill his wife instead of divorcing her.

Judge Gyanda said Sewnarain had not shown remorse, and this was evident in his efforts to get out of jail.

“The first step to remorse is to admit what you have done. You went to a place you were not ready for, in jail, and now you’re trying with everything you have to get out of there,” he said.

Judge Gyanda lashed out at Sewnarain for making false allegations of assault against the police.

“You made scandalous allegations against the police. They could have been hung out to dry. You hired hit men to kill your wife. We are fortunate that the death sentence has been scrapped, but that is how seriously the court views the hiring of assassins.”

Judge Gyanda said there was no reason to deviate from imposing the minimum prescribed life imprisonment. He further sentenced Sewnarain to five years’ imprisonment for defeating the ends of justice, to run concurrently with the life term.

Gyanda said the eight years and six months Sewnarain had already served would be subtracted from the current sentence, meaning he would serve 17-and-a-half years before being considered for parole.

Shanaaz’s sister, Sandra Baliram, told the court that her family still could not believe that Sewnarain had confessed to the murder. She said he was a loving husband, although Shanaaz had suspected that he was having an affair.

Baliram also lamented that they were not allowed to see her sister’s children, who lived with their father’s family. “The children are not allowed to communicate with us. Since my sister’s death we have not communicated with them,” she said.

In sentencing arguments, senior state advocate Cheryl Naidu said there was no other suitable sentence than that of life imprisonment.

“The deceased’s greatest crime was that she was a nagging wife. She was a mother of two who was instrumental in the running of the businesses. He had the ability to divorce her if he wanted to, but he realised that he stood to lose more if he did. He took the coward’s way out and decided to eliminate her,” said Naidu.

Defence advocate Shane Matthews had argued that the court should consider the eight years Sewnarain had already spent in prison. He asked the court to have mercy and sentence him to 18 years’ imprisonment - a submission objected to by the State as a lesser sentence than life would have qualified him for early parole.

Daily News

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