Inmates get 26 years for prison cell murder
The High Court has sentenced three prison inmates - convicted for killing a fellow convict in 2012 after an alleged love triangle - to a further 26 years imprisonment.
The three inmates Herman Rukero, 28, Benedictus Afrikaner, 31, and Maleachi Seibeb, 48, were further, on a count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice, sentenced to three years each.
Judge Dinnah Usiku ordered that the sentence of three years run concurrently with the sentence for the murder.
She ordered that the weapons used in the commission of the crime be forfeited to the state and destroyed immediately. The three inmates were jointly involved in the killing of a fellow prisoner, Eddy Gomxob, 33, in a prison bathroom on 18 January 2012.
After the killing, they also tried to hinder the investigation by instructing fellow inmates not to reveal what they had witnessed.
Gomxob died as a result of a head injury and multiple stab wounds to his chest.
Defence lawyers, Siyomuiji Mbanga and Milton Engelbrecht, during mitigation conceded that their clients cannot escape a prison sentence but had asked the court that the sentence be blended with a measure of mercy.
Usiku pointed out the requirement of mercy does not mean that the court must be weak or must hesitate to impose a heavy sentence where it is justified by the circumstances.
“The wave of crimes sweeping through our country and the need to effectively combat such crimes call for our courts to change the emphasis from individualism to deterrence,” she said.
The judge emphasised in particular the scenario where serious offences are committed within correctional facilities where offenders are supposed to start their rehabilitation processes.
“The sanctity of life is a fundamental human right enshrined into the law by the constitution and must be respected and protected by all,” Usiku stated.
She further said the accused were in custody and that one would have expected that to have an impact on them to rehabilitate but they went on to commit a serious crime within a correctional facility.
“The viciousness of the attack that was perpetrated upon the deceased was barbaric to say the least,” Usiku said before handing down a 26-year sentence for each inmate.
FRED GOEIEMAN
The three inmates Herman Rukero, 28, Benedictus Afrikaner, 31, and Maleachi Seibeb, 48, were further, on a count of defeating or obstructing the course of justice, sentenced to three years each.
Judge Dinnah Usiku ordered that the sentence of three years run concurrently with the sentence for the murder.
She ordered that the weapons used in the commission of the crime be forfeited to the state and destroyed immediately. The three inmates were jointly involved in the killing of a fellow prisoner, Eddy Gomxob, 33, in a prison bathroom on 18 January 2012.
After the killing, they also tried to hinder the investigation by instructing fellow inmates not to reveal what they had witnessed.
Gomxob died as a result of a head injury and multiple stab wounds to his chest.
Defence lawyers, Siyomuiji Mbanga and Milton Engelbrecht, during mitigation conceded that their clients cannot escape a prison sentence but had asked the court that the sentence be blended with a measure of mercy.
Usiku pointed out the requirement of mercy does not mean that the court must be weak or must hesitate to impose a heavy sentence where it is justified by the circumstances.
“The wave of crimes sweeping through our country and the need to effectively combat such crimes call for our courts to change the emphasis from individualism to deterrence,” she said.
The judge emphasised in particular the scenario where serious offences are committed within correctional facilities where offenders are supposed to start their rehabilitation processes.
“The sanctity of life is a fundamental human right enshrined into the law by the constitution and must be respected and protected by all,” Usiku stated.
She further said the accused were in custody and that one would have expected that to have an impact on them to rehabilitate but they went on to commit a serious crime within a correctional facility.
“The viciousness of the attack that was perpetrated upon the deceased was barbaric to say the least,” Usiku said before handing down a 26-year sentence for each inmate.
FRED GOEIEMAN
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