A Cape Town drug dealer has been sentenced in the Wynberg Regional Court on a charge of murder.
Elridge du Plessis was convicted as the State proved beyond reasonable doubt that he murdered Mishkaah Fakier after he doused her with petrol and set her alight.
State Prosecutor Advocate Bantu Nyembezi urged the court to impose a life sentence as du Plessis intended to kill Fakier.
Du Plessis was charged with his cousin, but the cousin was acquitted of all the charges preferred against him.
The State alleged that du Plessis, a drug dealer, accused Fakier of stealing his drugs and cash contained in a bag where she and her friends were sleeping. The State further alleged he smacked her, demanding to know where his drugs were. This incident happened in Hout Bay on January 9, 2018.
Advocate Nyembezi submitted that purchasing the petrol, pouring it on Fakier, and switching on the cigarette lighter by du Plessis was the direct cause of her death.
In his evidence, du Plessis told the court he poured petrol on Fakier and even got some on himself. He went home to change his clothes because he did not want to catch alight. At the time, he knew very well that Fakier was doused in petrol.
The State argued that du Plessis' actions of pouring petrol after smacking her, and then switching on the lighter, supported the fact that he acted with direct intention. The aim was to kill her for the disappearance of his drugs, and the act of pouring petrol on her was to achieve this aim.
The court sentenced du Plessis to 22 years of direct imprisonment taking into account he had already spent six years behind bars before his sentencing.
robin.francke@iol.co.za
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