Durban - Life is difficult for the young girl who witnessed the kidnapping of two Inanda police officers - Sergeant Vusumuzi Moyana and Sergeant Jabu Precious Jojisa - in 2015. She was 15 years old at the time and failed Grade 10 as a result of the trauma. She was one of the people who had travelled with the two officers, with an accused, to serve a protection order when the police officers were lured into an ambush at Namibia informal settlement.
Jojisa survived and was taken to uMhlanga Hospital where she spent more than a month recovering. Moyana died on the scene.
The victim, who cannot be named to protect her identity, is now 17 years old and in matric. She sat in the front row of the Durban High Court on Friday and sobbed as her victim impact statement was read to the court ahead of the three men being sentenced to life imprisonment for Moyana’s murder. She had testified in court during the trial and had identified Sabelo Mkhize, Lindokuhle Mchunu and Sboniso Khubisa in an identity parade.
In addition to life imprisonment they were sentenced to five years for attempted murder and 15 years for robbery of the police officers’ uniforms and firearms. In her victim impact statement, the youngster said her mother, who is wheelchair-bound, had sent her to the police station to get the officers to assist her mother with a protection order.
She had travelled in the police van with one of the accused and since her home was far away, was asked to wait in the police van while Moyana and Jojisa served a separate protection order at a house at Namibia informal settlement with one of the accused.
She described the incident as “something out of an action movie”, when she saw the three men turn on the police. She said two other men had appeared from the house with big guns, stripped them of their police uniforms and disarmed them. She managed to run to the police station and told the police what had happened.
She said the incident robbed her of her childhood and happiness and left her with a heart condition. “I used to be a happy girl. I did well in school and had many friends and enjoyed spending time with them. I used to walk freely to school and enjoyed the simple things in life, but not anymore,” she said in the statement.
Lindokuhle Mchunu (20), Sboniso Khubisa (22), Sabelo Mkhize (28) were convicted of killing two Inanda police officers in 2015. Picture: Leon Lestrade. African News Agency/ANA
After the incident, she said she could not cope at school and failed Grade 10. “I have since lost weight. I do not sleep well at night. The incident changed my life forever. I am jumpy and my heart is always pounding and scared,”she said. She has developed a heart condition and is on chronic medication
She was too distraught to speak at length about what the sentence meant to her, but briefly said it was a relief that the three men would probably spend their lives in jail. Judge Xolile Ntshulana said the robbery was planned, with Khubisa armed with an AK-47 rifle, and Mchunu with a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.
He said there were no exceptional circumstances for the court to deviate from the minimum prescribed sentence. The trio had not shown remorse in court, he added.
“It is saddening that police officers had pleaded for their lives, but you brutally shot them. An attack on the police is an attack on the community,” he said.
Family members of both the victims and of the convicted murderers packed the courtroom. Moyana’s wife Lihle said she was relieved the trial was finally over.
“Although this will not bring my husband back, I am happy that justice has been served. We can now begin working at finding closure and finding peace with what happened,” she said.