Africa-Press – South-Africa. Pete Mihalik’s murder was a “grotesque” and “callous” quest for a quick buck and nothing less than life in prison would do, the State said as it pushed for a harsh sentence for the three convicted hitmen.
On Wednesday, Sizwe Biyela, Nkosinathi Khumalo and Vuyile Maliti were found guilty of working together to murder Mihalik and attempting to murder his two children as he dropped them off at school in Green Point on 30 October 2018.
The Western Cape High Court also found them guilty of illegal possession of the gun and ammunition.
Before sentencing proceedings began, Biyela, the shooter, hid his face from the cameras, and Maliti covered his face with a mask, a hoodie and a dark deerstalker hat.
Khumalo was chatty, gesticulating with a rolled up tabloid newspaper as he chatted ahead of the proceedings which could determine the rest of his life.
The prosecutor, Greg Wolmarans, said although it was suspected the hit was linked to Mihalik’s work as a lawyer, it had not been conclusively established.
So, that left greed as a motive.
“The murder was perpetuated by the accused for only one reason: quick money. The blood money was gold coins,” he said.
But, this left a trail of devastation.
“It was breathtakingly heartless to develop a plan and execute it in front of children,” he submitted to Judge Constance Nziweni.
“When it is motivated by nothing more than sheer greed, it is one of the most repulsive crimes.”
Although Nziweni rejected their alibi that they were selling Krugerrands in a Spar parking lot at the time of the murder, she accepted testimony from an employee of a gold exchange in Kenilworth that Maliti got R200 000 for coins he sold there six hours after the murder.
Wolmarans said they knew Mihalik’s route and knew not only that he would have his children in the car, but also that there would be other children and parents outside the school during drop-off time at Reddam House Atlantic Seaboard.
He submitted:
Mihalik, a former prosecutor turned private defence advocate, was a single dad when he was murdered at 50. He looked after his children after his wife of 24 years died in 2015.
They are cared for now by a guardian – but the guardian and family are so protective of their privacy they did not want too many personal details revealed to the court. They did not even want to submit a victim impact statement.
But, to give the judge an idea of what they survived, Wolmarans revealed that Mihalik’s son still has a bullet fragment lodged near his spine. One of the bullets that killed his dad split and went through his jaw as he sat in the back seat, and it is too dangerous to remove it.
The family’s long-time helper had a heart attack when she heard what happened to Mihalik and the children. She was admitted to the same hospital that Mihalik’s son was rushed to for the operation to his jaw.
But, through all of this, the guardian and the family say the children are kind and intelligent, and excel academically.
He said there was nothing compelling about the three men’s personal circumstances, and none were primary caregivers before they were arrested.
Biyela, a 31-year-old warehouse assistant-cum-gold dealer, is married. He had three children, but one died, and now has a nine-year-old and a five-year-old.
Khumalo is 35, a taxi driver who briefly dabbled in coin dealing. He is unmarried, and a dad to three children who live with their mother. They are nine, five and four.
Maliti is 40, married, and has two children – six and 16. He owned taxis, which were transferred to his father, a stooped and elderly man who attended almost every court appearance. Maliti has one previous conviction for theft in 2018. There was a subsequent charge, but he appealed it and was acquitted.
Wolmarans said Biyela was doing well for himself, with a business, and a bonded townhouse, but he wanted more.
Their defence counsel asked for mercy, and asked the court to take into account their four years and nine months in custody, awaiting trial.
Remarkably, the children hold no grudge towards the accused.
“They simply want justice to be done,” said Wolmarans.
Judgment is set for 10 August.
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