Pretoria - The two killers of Meyerspark businessman Dawie Maree tried every trick in the book during their six-year trial to get off the hook – blaming apartheid and slamming their victim’s widow for crying in court – but this did not assist the pair in escaping a sentence of life behind bars.
Marabe Talane, 35, and Rodney Masemola, 32, were also sentenced to a further 18 years’ imprisonment for the murder of one of their gang members.
He died in crossfire between Maree and the robbers.
Judge Tshifiwa Maumela said the law was clear on this – that the robbers were responsible for the death of their gang member as they entered the premises armed, well knowing someone could die.
He took into consideration that the robber was not the target that night, but happened to fall victim in the crossfire. The judge said it was for this reason that he imposed a sentence of 18 years for that crime and not life imprisonment.
While more than 20 witnesses took the stand in the High Court in Pretoria against them and Maree’s widow Elana clearly identified his attackers, they maintained their innocence right to the end.
They instead claimed Maree was a brutal man and a racist, who turned on them when they went to his house late on the evening of May 23, 2008, to borrow money from Maree’s domestic worker, who was a family member of one of them.
Their version was that a shooting ensued and that Elana shot dead her own husband.
The domestic worker told the court she did not know the men at all and they were definitely not family, as they claimed.
But their lawyer, Paul Shapiro, described her as an oppressed worker, who was forced to testify while wearing her “maid’s uniform” in court.
Elana, who tried to shield the couple’s two children that night from the gun-wielding robbers and had to witness her husband being murdered, also did not escape the brunt of the lawyer.
The petite blond woman on occasion cried bitterly while listening to evidence. She was accused by the defence of playing on the emotions of the court.
Judge Maumela earlier rejected the pair’s evidence and said that when the men arrived at the house that night, Maree and his family were fast asleep.
Elana testified how armed men entered their bedroom.
She tried to shield their two children, while her husband and one of the robbers fought on the bed over a weapon he kept under the mattress.
Shots went off and both Maree and the robber were wounded.
In spite of being heavily wounded, Maree ensured that the robber was subdued and did not pose a threat to his family.
The dying Maree asked his wife to call a neighbour. The robbers fled with a few possessions they took from the house.
Judge Maumela said the conduct of the robbers was cruel and inhumane.
He said
the pair showed a disregard for the privacy of the family and expressed his hope that the widow would be able to come to terms with the fact that her husband was shot before her eyes.
Pretoria News