36-year-old Faizel Drew was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment in the Ezakheni Regional Court on Thursday, October 27.
This follows the murder of 43-year-old gym owner Joe Uraj Ahir in April 2014. The gym owner’s body was found lying in bed on April 7, 2014, in Oswald Rapson Road. Police initially opened an inquest into the death, but during the postmortem, it was found that he had sustained head injuries consistent with a severe assault.
A murder investigation was opened by police, which led to the arrest of three suspects: Faizel Drew (36), who was in hiding and on the run from police for over a year, and two others (aged 24 and 36).
It was determined that the three accused had stolen R1000 in cash from the deceased in order to buy drugs. They then beat him to death with a bottle, after which they staged his body in bed to make it look as if he had died from a heart attack.
During the trial earlier this year, the 24-year-old and 36-year-old pleaded guilty to assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm and were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, suspended for five years.
The case was investigated by Sergeant Dave Warmenhoven of Ladysmith Detective Services.
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