Durban — Despite hearing how the family of an elderly couple, slain on their farm in Verulam, had for four months all slept in one room due to fear, the Durban High Court deviated from the minimum prescribed sentence for the three accused.
“For about four months after the incident my siblings, my parents, and I all shared one room to sleep in at night with the room light on,” read the victim impact statement of Diyara Ishwarlall, read out in the Durban High Court before the sentencing on Friday.
“There hasn’t been a day that we haven’t slept in fear. This incident has tainted our lives, it has brought stress, grief, depression and deprived us of our rights to feel safe and secure,” said Ishwarlall.
Ishwarlall is the eldest granddaughter of murdered Dhir “Roy” Singh, 68, who was killed along with his partner Kallawathie Beekarie, 65, in September 2018.
On Friday Thobelani Manqele, Sphiwe Shezi and Ndawo Ndlovu, aged 20, 18, and 15, respectively, when they broke into the Cottonlands home of the couple, were sentenced by Judge Carol Sibiya.
She sentenced Manqele and Shezi to 18 years’ imprisonment for the murders, while Ndlovu received 10 years. The trio were also convicted of house robbery as well as robbery with aggravating circumstances and sentenced to 10 years for those crimes.
Judge Sibiya deviated from the minimum prescribed sentence of life imprisonment for murder when it came to Manqele and Shezi after taking into consideration their personal circumstances and their ages.
The judge said she had considered that the accused had already spent five years behind bars, adding that she had to be guided by the Child Justice Act in sentencing Ndlovu.
Singh was stabbed several times with his fishing spear in the neck and chest while Beekarie was forced into a bathtub and strangled with cables.
As part of the arguments in aggravation of sentence, State prosecutor Khatija Essack handed in Ishwarlall’s victim impact statement.
“It deprived me of a fair chance at writing my matric in 2018 in a manner and emotional state with which I would’ve otherwise been able to.
“My brother now suffers from panic and anxiety attacks. My sister and I have recurring nightmares of the incident and have even received counselling,” Ishwarllal stated.
Ahead of sentencing, Essack had argued that the deceased were an elderly couple who would have shown no resistance during the robbery.
“The manner in which they were murdered was an act of cruelty, they were murdered was an act of cruelty, they were elderly and defenceless. The items taken from their home were not even luxury items.
“It was carefully planned and executed, the accused were brazen enough to return to the house with dead bodies there to fetch more items,” she said.
Legal Aid defence counsel Zeera Fareed, representing Ndlovu, said the accused was 15 at the time and therefore the minimum sentence should not apply as per the Child Justice Act.
“Unfortunately, the accused has not accepted responsibility for his actions. His youth is a mitigating factor when it comes to his sentences, I suggest a suspended sentence,” she said.
Outside court, Singh’s son-in-law Nishan Ishwarlall thanked investigation officer Kalvin Moodley, his team, and the State prosecutor for a job well done.
“Moodley left no stone unturned to ensure the culprits were brought to book. His commitment and dedication to serving the law and people of South Africa is highly commendable.”
He said the family was disappointed at the sentence.
“The brutal manner in which they were murdered is not in accordance with the sentence they got. That’s the saddest part, they lived their last moments suffering.”
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