Cape Town - The Cape High court has sentenced the three men convicted of the murder of Stellenbosch student, Hannah Cornelius, and the attempted murder of her friend, Cheslin Marsh, to a combined 358 years imprisonment.
Vernon Witbooi and Geraldo Parsons, the two ring-leaders of the crime, were sentenced to 115 years each with two life sentences for the rape and murder of Cornelius.
Accused number three, Eben van Niekerk was sentenced to 128 years and two life sentences.
A fourth man, Nashville Julius will effectively serve 22 years in prison for the kidnapping and robbery of Cornelius and Marsh.
The friends were abducted from Marsh’s Nouveau student apartment building in Stellenbosch by the four men.
Cornelius was raped and killed and her body was discovered on the morning of May 27, 2017.
There were shouts of jubilation from the public gallery when judge Roshenie Allie read out the sentences and court marshals had to appeal for silence.
The judge said that she was not convinced that any of the four accused showed “true” remorse for their crimes.
Accused 1, 2 and three faced a total of 10 counts while accused number four only faced four charges.
Allie described that kidnapping, robbery, attempted murder and murder as brutal and callous.
They also blasted the four for the violence they displayed towards Marsh and Cornelius and said they chose to show their power in the worst way.
Marsh attended proceedings on Monday but nobody from the Cornelius family was spotted in court.