MBOMBELA – Two men were sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment each after revealing that money was the motivation behind the robbery and murder of Brondal forestry farmer, Mr Koos Kruger. The men pleaded guilty in the Mpumalanga High Court on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Judge Mr Moses Mavundla did not impose the minimum sentences as prescribed by the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1997. This could have amounted to a sentence of 45 years. He said that should he pass a harsher sentence it could dissuade criminals from pleading guilty, as the accused did, in future.
Given Makwendane Makhubela (27) and Xolani Mnyambo (30) were employed as tree cutters in Schoemanskloof.
Their advocate, Mr Nico du Plessis, presented their version of events to Mavundla. He said the accused had been approached by two other men, who did not appear in court, to burgle Koos’ house. “We were told that he had a lot of money and rifles,” read the accused’s statement. “We had the intention to rob and steal money,” they admitted. According to both Makhubela and Mnyambo, they were unarmed when they broke a window and entered. They admitted to grabbing various items in the house. While stealing whatever they could lay their hands on, they heard a gunshot.
Lowvelder previously reported that Koos had woken up that night and saw robbers in his home. He asked them what they were doing there. An armed man answered him with a gunshot. The bullet hit his arm and side, perforating his lung, heart and colon. His wife, Lee was in bed next to him. The paper reported that she fell on top of him, pretending to also have been shot. “The suspects then picked up their arms and dropped them to the ground, to see if they were in fact lifeless,” it reported. This was, however, not mentioned in court. Their daughter, Vanessa (15) was in the house at the time of the robbery, but locked herself in her room when she heard the commotion.
Makhubela and Mnyambo claimed that someone else had shot Koos. They said after having heard the gunshot, they headed towards the bedroom, saw a man lying on the bed and thought he was dead. They continued to ransack the home before escaping through a hole in the fence. Based on the continuance of their robbery while under the impression that Koos was already dead, they admitted to becoming involved in the murder.
However, he was still alive when the robbers fled. Various security companies and ambulance services were called to the scene and he was rushed to hospital. He died in Mediclinic Nelspruit on March 5, 2015.
Lee, and her children Vanessa and Enrico (14), whom Koos adopted, have not spent another night on the farm to this day. In her testimony on Wednesday, Lee asked Mavundla to lock up the men responsible for Koos’ death for life. “We’re too scared to live on a farm,” she said. The Krugers now live in Mbombela with Lee’s 65-year-old mother.
The forestry that had previously employed 120 people, is now without the man who ran it. “We have to sell it now. As a result of the robbery, 120 families will be without income,” she testified.
State advocate, Mr Ntsika Mpolweni pleaded for harch sentences to be passed on the murder, housebreaking with the intent to commit murder and robbery, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition convictions.
Mavundla did not impose the sentences provided for by legislation. He said the accused’s limited education (neither were schooled higher than grade 10) and the fact that they pleaded guilty, motivated him to deviate from the maximum sentences prescribed by the Act. He reasoned that, if he had not done so, criminals would be dissuaded from pleading guilty.
Both men were sentenced to an effective prison term of 22 years and will be eligible to apply for parole. A third man, Sfiso Mathebula, was charged and found guilty of the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition as the Krugers’ rifles and ammunition was found in his possession.
He will spend two years and six months in prison. Lee expressed her satisfaction with the accused’s imprisonment and thanked Mpolweni for his assistance.
