The court described Jeftic Nebosja (61) as ‘cold and heartless’ for killing Mile Veljkovic, a fellow Serbian national, who gave him a place to stay in Secunda.

The two men met through a mutual friend and Nebosja stayed with Mile and his son Claudio (then 16 years old) from September until the fateful day in November.

On November 2, 2011, Nebosja was moving out of the Veljkovic house. The young Claudio last saw his father when he was dropped off at school to write exams.

He told his father about unusual questions that Nebosja asked him about his movements and plans for the day.

Father and son agreed that Claudio will get a lift home so that Mile could return home to keep an eye on Nebosja.

When Claudio arrived home after school, he found the gate and house locked. He managed to gain entry to the house via an open window where he discovered his father’s bloodied body.

Mile had a rope around his neck and a plastic bag around his head, which has been bashed in with an object. Several items were missing from the house including a small safe Claudio kept some of his personal belongings in and his father’s Toyota Hilux.

Nebosja was nowhere to be found.

The victim’s impact statement explained how the young Claudio had to fend for himself after his father’s death.

His grades went from a top student to barely passing. He had no one to tend school functions with him and he had to make a plan to buy his own school uniform and pay school fees.

As a young boy, he even paid R40 000 to now deceased private investigator Piet Byleveld, to try and track Nebosja, with no luck.

Fast forward to 2017 when sterling police work in the Northern Cape tied the proverbial noose of the law around Nebosja’s neck. This after a vehicle accident involving a Toyota Hilux.

When the vehicle details were traced, it was determined that the number plates were false and the vehicle was reported stolen in Secunda six years earlier.

Nebosja was arrested and has been in custody since then. During his testimony, he alleged that he bought the vehicle as well as contents in the vehicle ‘voetstoots’ from a mystery man.

He made his first critical error when he alleged in a statement to police in the Northern Cape that he paid R5 000 because the man he bought it from owed him R25 000 whereas in court in Middelburg he testified that he paid R15 000.

The court found this discrepancy to be a material contradiction.

Nebosja’s testimony that he left Veljkovic alive and well when he left his house on November 2, was rejected. The court found that the murder was planned and executed with chilling precision and that he committed the crime because of greed and for personal gain.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment after the court determined that there was no compelling circumstances that justified a deviation from the prescribed sentence.

Claudio, now a husband and part of a loving Afrikaans family, said after court proceedings that he was happy with the outcome.

“As long as he is put away so he cannot do this to someone else. I am happy.” He was accompanied to court by his wife and mother-in-law.

His mother-in-law told of how things took a turn for the better for her son-in-law.

“Claudio came into our lives four years ago. After he started telling us about the things he had to endure, I went and I prayed for him to have something good happen to him. On that same day, the police called looking for him to go to the Northern Cape to identify his dad’s bakkie.”