Durban - The family of Food Lover’s Market manager Naieem Mohamed left the Durban High Court disappointed at the decision to sentence his killer to 17years’ imprisonment.
Innocent Hadebe, 28 - who was an employee at the Problem Mkhize (Cowey) Road, Morningside, shop - pleaded guilty on Tuesday to stabbing Mohamed 32 times and taking his cellphone, money from his wallet, and R45000 from the shop safe on December 2, 2016.
All this was captured in the CCTV footage which was played in court before the sentencing proceedings.
Mohamed’s wife, Krishnie, asked to be excused from court as the video played.
Hadebe tried to avoid looking at the screen.
In his guilty plea, Hadebe had claimed that Mohamed often called him names such as k***** and “small boy”.
He claimed that Mohamed had lowered his daily pay of R100 to R60 after he told him he was earning too much for doing nothing, and that made him angry.
He also claimed that in one incident, Mohamed gave him a pie, but before he could eat it a colleague warned him that it was stale, and he found it was infested with worms.
Durban High Court Judge Kate Pillay sentenced Hadebe to 12 years’ imprisonment for murder and 10 years for theft. Five years of the theft term would run concurrently with the murder sentence, giving him an effective term of 17 years.
Pillay said after considering the humiliation that Hadebe was allegedly subjected to, she understood his anger up to the point where he started helping himself to the money and Mohamed’s belongings.
“The following mitigating factors are that you’re a first offender, that you were young when your parents separated and you grew up without a father, that you earned R100 a day at the place you worked at for six years. Although I consider these, the court should also look at your conduct,” she said.
Pillay said because of his conduct, “children lost a father, a wife lost a husband, and parents lost a son, that is something that can never be replaced”.
State prosecutor Bonginkosi Mbokazi argued that the money that Hadebe took from Mohamed and from the safe had nothing to do with his anger, and questioned how he knew where the money was kept.
Hadebe’s lawyer asked the court to have mercy on him and to consider that his actions were out of rage.
Passing sentence, Pillay said while no one had a right to take a life, no one on the other hand had a right to ill-treat another person the way that Hadebe had described.
“This has not only affected the family of the deceased, but you (Hadebe) too as a young man face spending a very long time in prison and (losing) your freedom, all because of murder.
“You should have found another way to deal with your anger. Murder is final, there is no way to restore what you have done. You could have reported these allegations to the police or other managers of the shop.
“The deceased suffered agony and pain when you murdered him. What I noticed from the video was that you were calm the whole time,” Pillay said.
Outside court, Krishnie said the justice system had failed them by letting Hadebe get off with a light sentence. She said they had expected a life sentence.
She said the court took what Hadebe said as the truth.
“My husband is not here to answer for himself. The justice system has failed us. My husband had nothing to do with salaries because they were handled by the head office. I am disappointed at the court’s decision,” she said.