Africa-Press – South-Africa. Three people have been sentenced to life behind bars for burning a man alive after he attempted to steal a television near Tembisa in Gauteng.
Norman Makgopa, Tumelo Makgopa and Dennis Pasha were sentenced in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg last Monday.
They were found guilty of the kidnapping and premeditated murder of Pitso Mamaropeng Rampya. Acting Judge Stuart Wilson said the manner in which Rampya had died haunted his family.
Rampya was taken to a football pitch in Tswelopele Extension 8 near Tembisa and burnt alive for attempting to steal the television set from the Makgopa home in October 2020, News24 previously reported.
Trio guilty of murder after burning man alive for attempting to steal TV
Rampya was caught by Norman’s spouse, Mosibudi Modiba. Rampya tried to flee, but was caught by Tumelo, who took him back to the residence. Rampya had apparently told a series of lies.
At first, he said he was in the house because he had been tired and hungry, presumably looking for something to eat or somewhere to sleep.
According to the court judgment, he then said he wanted to buy a television set and wanted to ask how much the Makgopas’ set cost.
Tumelo was not convinced by these stories. Rampya was released into the street, where a crowd slapped and kicked him.
He attempted to flee, but the assault continued while the crowd questioned why he had been in the Makgopa residence.
One of the Makgopas’ neighbours accused Rampya of being a criminal who had recently robbed and killed someone in the area, the court heard at the time.
Norman, Tumelo, Pasha, and Potego Mohlala were indicted on charges of kidnapping and premeditated murder. During the trial, the State alleged that they were part of the crowd and had participated in Rampya’s abduction, assault, and subsequent murder.
How safe is your neighbourhood? Find out by using
News24’s CrimeCheck
Norman denied being part of the crowd, but all the other accused admitted that they were present when Rampya was detained and assaulted outside the Makgopas’ house.
The accused, however, denied participating in the murder and further denied being present when Rampya was burnt to death.
Mohlala was discharged from prosecution on 3 March 2022 after the State closed its case.
During sentencing, Judge Wilson said Rampya may have tried to steal the TV but did not deserve to die. Wilson said Rampya was not killed by a faceless mob but “individuals within the crowd, the three accused persons before me included, decided that he had to die”.
Wilson added:
Wilson said the effect of Rampya’s death on his family were devastating.
“Both the imputation of criminality and the cruelty of the violence inflicted on him are obviously very difficult to come to terms with, and [Rampya’s] aunt often imagines what would have happened had she asked [him] to stay at church with her on the day of his death. These emotional injuries may never heal.”
He said Rampya was more than the petty thief described at trial. He said Rampya, who had been 25 when he was killed, lost his parents to illness when he was just 12 years old, and he was raised by his aunt.
Rampya also sang in a choir, played football and he danced.
“His natural shyness vanished when he went to church. Communal worship gave him a sense of community, and perhaps a sense of the divine,” the judgment read.
Close to 300 vigilante-inspired murder cases recorded this year, says top cop
“The accused persons, in this case, are not particularly young. The offence of which they have been convicted is of the worst kind, both in terms of the level of cruelty involved and the amount of time each of them had to reassess their conduct and pull back from inflicting the fate that [Rampya] ultimately suffered.
“I see nothing inherently disproportionate in a life sentence for this sort of crime being imposed on people ranging in age, as the accused persons do, from their mid-twenties to their early thirties,” Wilson said.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
