Sensation, controversy in busy year at court
From crimes of passion to assassination plots, Noelene Barbeau reviews 2015's more memorable local court highlights.
|||From crimes of passion to assassination plots, Noelene Barbeau reviews 2015’s more memorable local court highlights.
JANUARY
* The eThekwini Municipality launched an urgent high court application against its bus service operator, Tansnat Africa, claiming the close corporation’s sole member, Mandla Gcaba, a taxi boss who is also President Jacob Zuma’s nephew, had given himself a R30.7 million loan from his company’s funds, which was allegedly not repaid. City treasurer Krish Kumar said, in court papers, that Tansnat owed the muni-cipality R52m. The application to liquidate Tansnat is to get these funds back.
In response, Gcaba accused the municipality of making hearsay allegations against Tansnat and of launching a liquidation application against it without “clean hands”.
He said there was no evidence his company had failed to provide a reliable bus service, instead saying that during the 51/2 years as the bus service operator, it had a 98%-plus efficiency level.
He called for the application to be dismissed and for costs to be awarded in his favour. The matter is yet to be argued on the opposed roll.
* Loganathan Naicker, a former security company boss from oThongathi, was convicted of conspiring to kill his girlfriend, Jennifer Pillay, in May 2008. He was sentenced to life behind bars in July. Naicker hired Sandile Ncube and Mbongeni Mbatha to carry out his plan.
The two men accosted Pillay at her home in Ottawa, near Verulam, on May 21, 2008, and drove away with her in her Toyota Tazz. They took her to sugarcane fields nearby where she was shot dead. The vehicle was later found abandoned. Her body was found the next day. Ncube turned state witness and Mbatha has since died.
Pillay’s father, Krishna, testified how his family had suffered since his daughter’s death. His wife suffered a stroke the day Naicker was arrested, and has never fully recovered. Three of their seven children have died.
FEBRUARY
* Nine-year-old Shahiel Sewpujun’s body was found in a manhole in Charclay Gardens, Phoenix, three days after he was reported missing. A week later, his relatives, Kavitha Naicker, and her mother, Rajwanthie Haripersadh, were charged with his murder and in December were indicted to appear in the High Court next year.
The State alleges that some time prior to the murder, the pair planned to kill the youngster because of his “demeanour” towards them. It is alleged that on February 5, Naicker struck Shahiel on the head with a chisel and held him down. Haripersadh allegedly bound his mouth and nose with cellophane tape.
* Berea residents, including advocate Tayob Aboobaker, challenged developers Serengeti Rise Industries in the Durban High Court over the construction of a R60m block of flats, which neighbours labelled “a monstrosity”.
In June, Judge Esther Steyn ordered that part of the building at 317 Currie Road be demolished. She ordered the city and Serengeti pay the costs of the residents’ application.
Steyn found that the city’s approval for rezoning the property, allowing for a high-density boundary-to-boundary building, was unlawful and invalid. However, in August she granted the developer and the Municipality leave to appeal her decision.
* Former oThongathi pastor Segaree Govender, 47, pleaded guilty and was jailed for 25 years for killing the wife of the man she had been having an extra-marital affair with for 12 years.
Her co-accused, Cheryl Perumal, had pleaded guilty in 2013 and was sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment, five years of which were suspended for three years, for her role in killing Elaine Pillay.
Govender was friends with Pillay and both had attended the Faith Deliverance Ministries church, where Govender and her husband were pastors.
MARCH
* Dubbed the oThongathi serial killer, Sphiwe Patrick Khoza was convicted in the Durban High Court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The court found he had lured three women, separately, to oThongathi through social media, killed them – raping one of them – and then stealing their cellphones.
Cellphone records linked the serial killer to the scene of the crimes.
* Durban High Court Judge Esther Steyn convicted a gang of armed robbers who had targeted homes in Westville in December 2013. Three of the four men were also found guilty of murdering international artist Clinton de Menezes, and for shooting another victim.
Siyabonga Khoza, 24, Lungani Ngidi, 21, and Bongani Makhatini, 28, all of KwaDabeka, and Fisto Alimasi, 26, of Burundi, had pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, housebreaking and robbery. Alimasi was found guilty of robbery with aggravating circumstances and housebreaking, but was acquitted on the other charges.
* The Department of Labour’s commission of inquiry into the partial collapse of the oThongathi Mall in November 2013 that killed two workers and injured 29, ended in March. The commission’s report was expected to have been handed over to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) before Christmas.
Their report would only be made public should the NPA decide to prosecute.
The R208m project was being developed by Rectangle Property Investment and the contractor was Gralio Precast. Both companies are linked to controversial Durban businessman Jay Singh.
APRIL
* Former KZN Judge President Chiman Patel signalled his intention in March to sue the NPA for R3m in damages for malicious prosecution. The claim was filed in the Durban High Court in May.
Judge Patel had been charged with crimen injuria relating to alleged remarks he made to a stationery clerk in his chambers in October 2013.
On the day the matter was to go to trial in December last year, the NPA withdrew the charge, providing no reasons for the decision.
Patel said the ordeal had caused him embarrassment.
* The man accused of raping and killing Wentworth teen Tenique Stevens was freed in April when the charges against him were dismissed because lack of evidence. Navandran Naicker had pleaded not guilty to the charges as well as to the theft of Tenique’s cellphone.
Durban High Court Judge Sharmaine Balton had said it was “clear to the court” that the investigating officer did not properly investigate the case. She said “shoddy investigation” resulted in important DNA evidence being overlooked.
Tenique’s partly naked body was found covered with plastic, a rope around her neck and her mouth stuffed with a cloth, at Cuttings Beach, Merebank, on June 5, 2012.
* The seven people accused of killing money lender Narend Anandrai were indicted in April to appear in the Durban High Court. The trial date for Claude Reginald, Rajendran Chetty, Shana Mangroo, Veronica Rathilal (an advocate), Sudesh Ghooruhoo, Dhanaselan Manickam and Jayshree Baijnath (an attorney) has been set down for next year.
Mangroo, Rathilal and Baijnath allegedly borrowed money from him and were unable to repay. It is alleged all the accused decided to have him killed and in March 2014 had hired Gregory Pillay to commit the murder for a fee. Anandrai was apparently lured by the accused to Manickam’s house and on his arrival, while seated in his Mercedes Benz SUV waiting to enter the property, Pillay shot him.
Pillay confessed to the murder in August last year and received an 18-year prison sentence.
* Taxi driver Njabulo Nyawose, 27, was found guilty of culpable homicide after his collision with Olympic cyclist Burry Stander in January 2013.
In July, Port Shepstone magistrate Charmaine Barnard sentenced him to six years in jail, three of which were suspended for five years.
Nyawose had been travelling south-bound in Marine Drive near Shelly Beach in January 2013 when he crossed the barrier line on the north-bound lane to turn right into Stott Street.
Burry, who had been had been cycling north, suffered extensive “blunt force trauma” and died at the scene.
The magistrate said Nyawose intentionally disobeyed the road sign, went over the barrier line and failed to keep a proper look out.
MAY
* Durban High Court Acting Judge Eric Nzimande found Sibusiso Mthimkhulu, 28, of Frasers, just outside oThongathi; Senzo Sello Ndluli, 20, of Burbreeze, oThongathi; Lucky Ernest Njoko, 31, of Burbreeze; and Vusi Ngxumeshe, 37, of Frasers, guilty of killing oThongathi couple Maliga and Balaram Reddy.
They were also found guilty of attempted murder, housebreaking with intent to rob, and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
In July, the four men were sentenced to life for the murders, eight years for attempted murder, 15 years for housebreaking with intent to rob, and 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances. These sentences are to run concurrently with their life sentence.
Balaram Reddy, 59, died of a blunt-force head injury and gunshot wound to the abdomen, and his wife, Maliga, 53, died of a gunshot to the head when they were robbed in their Burbreeze home. Their son, Nivashen, was stabbed and assaulted.
The couple’s heavily pregnant daughter, Prishini Rammanan, and her husband, Rishal, were also in the house at the time of the attack.
Maliga Reddy’s brother, Parmanandan Naidoo, said Prishini had gone missing on the anniversary of her parents’ death in 2013. Her body was found on railway tracks in January 2014.
* Former police colonel and provincial spokesman Vincent Mdunge was senten-ced to five years in prison for fraud and forgery. He was granted leave to appeal his conviction and sentence.
Durban Regional Court magistrate Thandeka Fikeni convicted Mdunge in November 2014 on charges related to him falsifying his matric certificate and presenting it to the police to gain employment, as well as presenting it to Unisa to enrol for a diploma in police administration.
* A 14-year-old’s honest testimony on how he witnessed a friend’s father force a liquid down his mother’s throat, pour it over her and set her alight, led to the uMlazi man’s conviction and 15-year jail sentence for the murder.
Thembikile Ngubane, 48, died in hospital from her burns and bronchial pneumonia, which she developed as a result of an infection because of smoke inhalation.
She was set alight in her home on February 9 because uMlazi residents believed she was practising witchcraft. At a specially convened community meeting that day, she had apparently admitted to shaving off a 3-year-old boy’s eyebrows. The boy’s father, Mzuyanda Mntambo, 30, had pleaded not guilty, but was convicted in the Durban High Court of Ngubane’s murder.
* Zwelakhe Maphumulo and Gcina Magwaza pleaded guilty to killing Mount Edgecombe businesswoman Nalin Naidu and were sentenced to 30 years and 22 years respectively.
In October, Mara Kholekile Sithole had entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the State and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. She was sentenced to 10 years, wholly suspended for five years.
The remaining accused – her husband Gonasagren “Seelan” Naidu, a former police officer turned businessman, Constable Sifiso Nkosi and Nkosi’s fiancée, Phumla Ethel Matseke – are still to stand trial.
Naidu died on October 28 from a stab wound to her neck. Her body was found in Shongweni. The court heard Naidu had forgiven her husband for trying to kill her in 2006 and testified on his behalf, which led to him receiving a correctional supervision and four-year suspended sentence.
JUNE
* June 1 marked the official start of Judge Achmat Jappie’s tenure as KwaZulu-Natal Judge President. Judge Jappie was the only candidate interviewed for the post.
* Senior Durban advocate Mike Govindasamy was acquitted of charges of rape and sexual assault laid against him by a young relative. The young woman, now in her mid-twenties, alleged Govindasamy had indecently assaulted her in 2007, when she was 15.
She alleged the incident occurred soon after her mother had suddenly died, and she was spending the night with him and his wife, sleeping between them in their bedroom at their Effingham Heights home.
* Pietermaritzburg-born and bred advocate Shaun Abrahams was appointed the new National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), replacing Mxolisi Nxasana.
* Magistrate Trevor Levitt found Blayne Shepard guilty of culpable homicide in connection with the death of former British Royal Marine Brett Williams.
Levitt found Williams had been the instigator in the initial fight that broke out. He said Shepard, after he hit Williams in the head, along with others, participated in kicking and stomping on Williams and would have foreseen that “kicks to the head” could cause death.
Shepard, his brother, Kyle, and their friends, Andries van der Merwe and Dustin van Wyk, were all initially charged with Williams’ murder at Kings Park rugby stadium in March 2013. The others were acquitted in 2014. Shepard was sentenced to three years in August, but was granted leave to appeal his conviction and sentence.
JULY
* The suspended Cato Manor policemen who are facing charges of racketeering relating to allegations that they operated as a hit squad, lodged a civil application in the Durban High Court against Nomgcobo Jiba, who was acting head of the NPA when she authorised their prosecution.
They argued her conduct was so “egregious” that she should be made to pay their legal costs from her own pocket.
* Animal hoarder Dianne Ritchie Ingram pleaded guilty in the Durban Magistrate’s Court to neglecting 26 stray, unwanted, sick and abused animals she had taken into her care. The Durban and Coast SPCA had laid charges against Ingram, 40, after finding these animals on a property she was renting in Bellair in 2013.
In September, she was sentenced to a R1 000 fine, or one year in jail.
In March, she had pleaded guilty in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court to similar animal cruelty charges. In the Pinetown matter, the animals included 17 dogs, four cats, two pigs, two rats, two snakes and one mouse, which were removed from the house after some were found living in shocking conditions.
Ritchie was fined R21 000, half of which was suspended for three years.
AUGUST
* KZN Hawks boss Johan Booysen sued the police and the NPA for R10.5m. Days later, he was served with a notice of intention to suspend him for alleged fraud. He was later suspended, but challenged this suspension in September in the Durban High Court. His suspension was set aside in November, but he later learnt the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation intended to appeal this ruling, and said he could not return to work pending the outcome of the appeal.
* Durban truck driver Mohammed Suther was found guilty of killing Margate resident Richard Duxbury in a road rage-related incident on the M4 in February 2012.
Sathar was sentenced in October to 15 years in jail.
SEPTEMBER
* Defence Force Lieutenant-Colonel Joel Mohoasa appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court for allegedly killing his wife, Lesego, who also worked at the SANDF, when a grenade was detonated in their Toti home. Their two young children were also inside the house at the time. His case continues.
* Former high school teacher Colin Chapman pleaded guilty in the Durban Regional Court to 230 charges of possession and creation of child pornography, sexual exploitation and grooming of children and using children to create child pornography.
He had entered into a plea and sentence agreement with the State. He was sentenced to three years in jail; he was declared unfit to work with children; his name was to be placed on the sex offenders register; and he had to pay R100 000 to the Open Door Crisis Care Centre, which assists victims of sexual abuse.
OCTOBER
* A Chatsworth grandmother entrusted by the Durban Children’s Court with the care of her three grandchildren was indicted to appear with the children’s mother in the Durban High Court on child abuse and assault charges.
In addition, the 55-year-old grandmother is charged with sexually assaulting, raping and killing her 3-year-old grandchild.
Earlier in the year, both women were declared mentally fit to stand trial.
The mother is to now undergo a private mental assessment and they are to appear in the Durban High Court next year.
* Bluff businessman Dain Neveling was arrested with Hendrik Nunez and Jorgen Jorgensen in connection with a plan to kill his business partner, Grant Jones, in two incidents. In the first incident, in July, Jones was shot five times, and as a result he now uses a wheelchair. In the second incident, in October, the Hawks were made aware of the plot and staged Jones’s “murder” with a police officer posing as the hit man. The three men were arrested.
The conspiracy and attempted murder charges against Neveling were dropped earlier this month. The charges were reinstated after Jones and his family raised their concerns with the director of public prosecutions.
In November, Nunez and Jorgensen pleaded guilty and had named Neveling as the mastermind. Neveling was then rearrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, theft, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and intimidation. He is to appear again in court next month.
* Ashish Ramgobin, 45, who is the daughter of Mahatma Gandhi’s granddaughter, Ela Gandhi, and treason triallist and ANC stalwart Mewa Ramgobin, appeared in court on a charge of fraud involving R6.2m.
According to the charge sheet, the fraud occurred between August and October this year when Ramgobin asked a businessman – identified only as S R Maharaj – for R6.2m, saying she needed to pay VAT and customs duty on four containers. She claimed they were linked to a contract she had with the Netcare hospital group. The State alleges she did not use the money for that purpose. She is out on R50 000 bail.
NOVEMBER
* Daniel Joseph Thomas, formerly known as Gareth Thomas, was convicted of raping two young girls while out on parole, and was sentenced to an effective 18 years in jail. In 2001, he pleaded guilty to the murder of former Durban mayor Mike Lipschitz, and was sentenced to 20 years in jail. He was released on parole in 2010. In 2014 he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl he had been tutoring and a 7-year-old girl.
DECEMBER
* Former KZN Premier and ex-transport minister S’bu Ndebele appeared in the Durban Commercial Crime Court on a corruption charge and was released on R10 000 bail.
The State alleges that between October 11, 2010, and September 21, 2012, payments totalling R10.2m were made into Ndebele’s bank account from Sinosa Construction’s bank account. Sinosa’s sole owner is Sibusiso Ncube, KZN Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube’s husband.
Ndebele was arrested with eight others, among them his former national transport department director-general George Mahlalela, Ncube, Zakhele Thwala and Tebogo Mphuti. The rest of Ndebele’s co-accused had appeared in the Pretoria Commercial Crime Court, where they would all appear in July.
* A Phoenix grandfather, Kemraj Balgobin, also known as “Uncle Ash”, had bought a bus when he retired to transport the elderly and disabled schoolchildren. He died while trying to ensure the children’s safety during a robbery.
The four men responsible for his murder, Thobani Khewla, 25, S’thembiso Mthethwa, 31, Njabulo Mthethwa, 24, and 26-year-old Sanele Mayisela, were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Balgobin had been loading disabled children on the bus in Avoca Hills on January 19, 2012, to transport them to AB Moolla Spes Nova School for the Disabled, when he was robbed and killed.
* Chatsworth husband and father Manogaran Chetty pleaded guilty to killing his wife, Vaneshree “Tilda” Chetty. In a handwritten letter attached to his plea, he begged his two daughters, family and friends for forgiveness.
He had fetched his wife from Westcliff, Chatsworth, on December 4 to take her to the doctor. While en route, they had an argument about their marriage and he stabbed her with a kitchen knife. He was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
* SABC senior journalist Yogenathan “Gary” Govindsamy won his legal battle against Pietermaritzburg businessman Sunny Gayadin.
Govindsamy had lodged a R100 000 damages claim against Gayadin in the Durban Magistrate’s Court in 2010.
Magistrate Thandeka Fikeni ordered Gayadin pay Govindsamy R25 000 with interest per year from December 2009 for the defamation claim, and the same for his injury to dignity claim.
Fikeni agreed with Govindsamy’s version that Gayadin had called Lotus FM in December 2009 seeking an on-air interview about the apparent arrest of Bollywood singer Shaan Mukherjee, whose passport, Gayadin claimed, was confiscated and his two Johannesburg shows cancelled.
Govindsamy, who was the bulletin editor for Lotus FM at the time, testified to telling Gayadin he could not broadcast the story as the claims of the singer’s arrest could not be verified. Govindsamy said Gayadin then insulted him, using vulgar and derogatory words.
* State advocate Meera Naidu was cleared of all the charges brought against her.
She was accused of prosecutorial misconduct when businesswoman Shauwn Mpisane’s defence team complained that Naidu had witheld documents and misled the court.
Mpisane and her company, Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport CC, were initially charged in the Durban Regional Court with over 100 counts of tax fraud involving R4.7m. Mpisane was also charged with violating the Close Corporations Act by operating a close corporation despite having a criminal conviction for Vat fraud.
These charges were later withdrawn against her and her company due to the allegations levelled against Naidu.
Naidu’s disciplinary hearing took three years to complete and during this time she was not allowed to prosecute, did not benefit from performance bonuses and salary increments and had suffered reputational damage.
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