Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Pretoria High Court sentenced three men to life in prison for robbing and killing a friend and his mother in July 2019.
Alex Mashaba, Silence Thanysha and Koketso Malobi, all in their 20s, and a fourth accomplice, Lethabo Gift Ntsoane, were sentenced on Monday.
They killed Rorisang Matsene and his mother, Kgomotso Matsene, on 23 July 2019. The victims were strangled, their faces covered with plastic, after which they were tied with cable ties.
Rorisang was friend of Mashaba and Ntsoane.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, said Ntsoane, who was 17 in 2019, came up with the idea and recruited the other three.
They first killed Rorisang and then the mother.
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After the murders, they made off with the woman’s car, a Renault Clio, which was loaded with appliances, including the victim’s sound system, laptop and plasma TV.
A witness told the court they sold the electronics for R3 000 and the vehicle for R10 000.
Kgomotso’s daughter discovered the bodies three days later, on 26 July 2019.
Days
“She told the court that, because she could not reach her mother on the phone for a couple of days, she decided to go home. Upon her arrival, she found both her mother and brother dead. The four were arrested on 4 and 5 August 2019 and have been in custody since, besides Ntsoane.”
In court, the four pleaded not guilty to the charges proffered against them,” said Mahanjana.
The prosecutor, advocate Robert Molokoane, urged the court to sentence the four to life, saying they showed no remorse for their actions.
In addition to the life sentence, the three were each sentenced to two life terms and 15 years’ imprisonment each for two murder charges and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Ntsoane was sentenced to 25 years for each of the two murder charges, and 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances. The sentences will run concurrently, which means his effective sentence is 25 years.
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