Cape Town – Convicted hit-and-run killer Rafiek Hayners will spend the next six years behind bars for the crash which killed a six-year-old girl and her nanny after being sentenced at the Wynberg Regional Court.
However, the father of little Shaylynn Arendse says after three years of dutifully attending court appearances hoping for justice, they were cruelly let down.
Hayners was found guilty of culpable homicide for the crash which killed Shaylynn and her nanny Maureen Abrahams, 61, from Lotus River on 27 September 2018.
Shaylynn had been a pupil at Strandfontein Primary School and had been visiting her nanny who lived in Lotus River, for the school holidays when tragedy struck.
A year after the incident, Hayners admitted to exceeding the speed limit and jumping a red robot at Strandfontein Road and 5th Avenue, killing the two as they stood on the pavement.
Hayners was set to be sentenced in January 2020, but Magistrate Khaleed Parker referred the matter to the Regional Court and explained that the maximum three-year sentence he was allowed to impose would not bring justice to the victims or their families.
“You drove like the devil was chasing you,” Parker said at the time.
It was expected that at the Regional Court, Hayners would face between 15 and 20 years behind bars for culpable homicide.
However, after months of delays, Hayners was finally sentenced on Wednesday, the judge giving him six years direct imprisonment for both counts of culpable homicide and declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
Shaylynn’s heartbroken dad, Jason Hendricks, 28, said the judge was far too lenient on Hayners.
“The justice system is pathetic. It’s almost three years that we had to endure in and out of court for a measly three years’ (sentence),” he said.
“I am sure you would get a harsher sentence for a petty crime in this country and I feel the justice system sucks big time. It is more suited to the criminal than the victims.
“We now still have to sit with the loss of our daughter. All the pain and suffering we have to endure every day.
“Who knows, he might get out on good behaviour and we continue to suffer.”
Daily Voice