Three Winterveldt men have been convicted of murder after they gunned down an elderly couple in a busy street in Soshanguve in 2011 only to rob them of R3,50 and a toy gun.
Victor Simango, 31, Solomon Selekane, 25 and the 28-year old Collen Molapo were found guilty in the High Court in Pretoria of murdering Christiaan Jooste and his wife Catherine by shooting them during an armed robbery in broad daylight while witnesses looked on.
The three were also convicted on a count of robbery with aggravating circumstances and one of unlawfully being in possession of firearms and ammunition. In addition, Simango was found guilty of another charge of aggravated robbery for robbing the same couple in a separate incident 16 days before their 17 November murder.
A fourth accused, Nkomo Mathebula, had his trial separated from that of the three murderers after escaping from police custody earlier this year by allegedly bribing a policeman. Mathebula is still on the run and is currently on the police’s list of top 10 most wanted criminals in the country.
Delivering judgement, Judge Lettie Malopa said the testimony given by the three accused in the trial had been “fabrications and lies.”
“The various versions given by the accused of what had happened that day could not reasonably or possibly be true,” the judge said, adding that all the accused had acted with a common purpose to rob and murder the Joostes, who were in Soshanguve delivering sausages to a spaza shop in Block R when they were shot.
Christiaan was shot in his stomach while walking back from the shop while his wife was shot in the chest when she tried to defend herself by spraying her attackers with pepper spray. The couple, both in their 60s, were declared dead on arrival at the hospital.
The judge postponed the matter to 10 February for sentence proceedings when it is expected that the defence advocates and the prosecution will deliver arguments for sentencing.
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