‘You referred to him as a crippled gay. That was unbecoming. You were supposed to be a father figure to him. The family is still grieving for the deceased. You didn’t even show any remorse.’
Judge David Makhobo was unflinching when addressing David Shomolekae, the shoelace murderer last Friday, sentencing him to life imprisonment for the murder of 16-year-old Lesley Makousa.
The packed courtroom shouted in applause when Judge Makhobo sentenced Shomolekae to life imprisonment for strangling Makousa to death with a shoelace. The accused was also sentenced to 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances and six years for housebreaking with intent to steal, and theft. The last two sentences are to run concurrently with the life sentence.
During the trial, the court heard how Shomolekae had confided in his cellmate and admitted to ‘killing a crippled gay boy’.
The 31-year-old Shomolekae strangled Lesley on 6 August last year in the desolate bushes of Promosa. The teen’s lifeless body was discovered by a passerby who was collecting plastic bottles.

The defence, Adv. Anneke Van Wyk battled in court for Shomolekae to receive a lenient sentence. ‘The court should take into consideration the mitigating factors as he is a single person but has a girlfriend. He has three children aged three, eight, and ten, and a five-year-old with a former girlfriend and pays R500 maintenance for the child. They all depend on him financially.
‘He is a construction worker who has completed Gr. 9. He has already served 1 year in custody and has a drug addiction,’ said Adv Van Wyk.
The state prosecutor, Adv. Lawrence More dispelled these arguments and said the personal circumstances are ordinary and not substantial. ‘The rate of violence in the country cannot be tolerated. People are complaining about the high rate of crime. The deceased was a young boy with a bright future ahead of him, his ambitions were short-lived. The deceased was killed for a mere cell phone. Thereafter, the accused was still not satisfied Z he went to the deceased’s house to steal more. He was becoming greedy. He did not show remorse, despite overwhelming evidence against him in court.
Adv. More added that he has been convicted of several cases dating back to 2006. ‘He started with theft to robbery; it seems he was graduating from the field of crime,’ he argued.
To cement his argument before sentencing, Adv. More called Frans Makousa, Lesley’s uncle to the stand. The witness said the family is heartbroken. ‘It is by the grace of the God that the family is calm. My sister needs counselling. I can see in her eyes that she’s still hurting inside. Lesley was respectful and well-loved by the community, as you can see by the packed courtroom,’ said Makousa.
The second witness was Thabiso Mogapi wa Tsotetsi, the director for Action for Social Justice International that fights for the rights of the LGBTI (lesbian women, gay men, bisexual, transgender and intersex) community. When responding to Judge Makhobo’s question of how Lesley’s death had affected the LGBTI community, he said they do not feel protected or safe in the community, He pointed out that this was the second murder of an LGBTI member and there have been other cases that involve rape.
After listening to the mitigating and circumstantial factors, Judge Makhobo said the accused had displayed dishonesty. ‘He never played open cards. I cannot say he committed the offence because of his addiction. It would have been a different case if he had come before the court asking for help with his drug addiction. ‘Almost ninety per cent of convicts in prison have children to support. That cannot be a reason not to go to prison,’ he said. He also denied the defence leave to appeal.
The sentencing has brought some degree of healing to the Makousa family. Frans Makousa expressed the hope that the harsh sentence would send a message to those who want to murder and rape. ‘The court has ensured that we are now safe from this man,’ he said.