Supreme Court of Appeal dismisses Rameez Patel leave to appeal life sentence
A convicted murderer remains behind bars after senior judges ruled he had no reasonable prospects of challenging his Limpopo conviction.
Rameez Patel will continue serving his life sentence after the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed his application for leave to appeal on Thursday (July 30).
Polokwane Review reports a copy of a judgment document by the Judiciary of South Africa showed that the court ruled Patel had no reasonable prospects of success and no compelling reasons for an appeal to be heard.
Patel filed the application on May 12 from prison, through his lawyer, Saleem Khan. He was challenging his conviction and sentence handed down in the Limpopo High Court in December.
High Court Judge Joseph Raulinga sentenced Patel to life imprisonment for the premeditated murder of his wife. The court added five years for possession of an unlicensed firearm and three years for illegal ammunition.
In sentencing, Raulinga said Patel had shown zero remorse, describing the case as one of Limpopo’s most harrowing instances of femicide.
A month earlier, Raulinga had found Patel guilty of premeditated murder.
The court dismissed Patel’s version of an intruder attack as uncorroborated, finding that forensic evidence and witness testimony proved the murder was planned.
Patel’s bail of R250 000 was revoked immediately and he was taken to a holding cell.
Mother’s death
In 2017, Mahejeen Patel, the mother of Rameez, was shot dead in her home.
The state alleged that he paid a hitman R15 000 to execute her over financial disputes. He was denied bail in that separate, ongoing case.
The trial for his wife’s murder began in 2016, when Patel pleaded not guilty.
Between 2016 and 2024, the matter was postponed multiple times, with the court citing missing evidence, witnesses who could not be located, and frequent changes in Patel’s legal counsel as reasons for the delays.
Patel had been granted R250 000 bail in 2015, allowing him to return to managing his business while awaiting trial.
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Read original story on www.citizen.co.za
