Africa-Press – South-Africa. The detectives and prosecutor who toiled to bring the three people convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a Cape Town lawyer were praised by Western Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile.
Sizwe Biyela, Nkosinathi Khumalo and Vuyile Maliti were each handed a life sentence for murder by Western Cape High Court Judge Constance Nziweni on Thursday.
They were also each sentenced to 10 years in prison for the attempted murder of Mihalik’s two children, one of who lives with a bullet fragment lodged near his spine.
For the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, they were each sentenced to seven years.
The gun was never found, but forensic image analysis confirmed it was Biyela who shot Mihalik, and the judge found they had worked together to kill him.
Mihalik was killed as he was about to drop his children off at school at Reddam House Atlantic Seaboard at 07:39 on 30 October 2018.
He lived for a few seconds from the two bullets fired at close range and died in front of his children.
Mihalik’s son was covered in blood and starting to feel faint from blood loss, but fortunately recovered after surgery to his jaw.
His family is fiercely protective of the children and would only give the court snippets of how traumatised they were by their father’s death.
The family would not even reveal their names but would only say they are kind, intelligent children who excel academically.
Patekile welcomed the sentence and commended investigating officer Detective Warrant Officer John Bruce van Staden, the prosecutor Greg Wolmarans, and everybody else for their “excellent collaboration and their meticulous handling of the case” that led to the conviction and sentencing.
Van Staden was a steady presence throughout the trial, which was regarded as high-risk and guarded by heavily armed specialist officers.
Biyela and Khumalo came from KwaZulu-Natal and met up with Maliti for the murder plot.
When they drove over an intersection marking without stopping, they were pulled over by traffic officer Boy Makhutu.
Makhutu’s by-the-book handling of this traffic stop cracked the case wide open, although he did not know at the time who he was dealing with.
The three claimed they had nothing to do with the murder and were conducting a gold Kruger rand deal in a supermarket parking lot at the time.
The judge did not buy it.
“In the context of this case, it is clear as daylight that the alibis of the accused are made up.”
Biyela was a warehouse assistant-cum-gold dealer from Umlazi, Khumalo a taxi driver from Empangeni, and Maliti a taxi owner who lived in a townhouse in Bardale Village.
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