Botho Molosankwe
TWO brothers accused of the murder of Bona magazine editor and Soweto TV board chairman Force Khashane have been found guilty.
Sikhumbuzo, 24, and Sibusiso Mtshali, 30, were to be sentenced today after Johannesburg High Court Judge Kathy Satchwell convicted them of the premeditated murder of Khashane and possession of a firearm and ammunition. The two were acquitted on the charge of robbery with aggravated circumstances.
The high court is sitting in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.
Khashane was shot six times outside his Orlando East home on the night of August 12, 2009 and died later in hospital. His cellphone and laptop where stolen.
During previous trial proceedings, the State submitted a statement allegedly made to the police at the Orlando police station by Sikhumbuzo after his arrest. In the statement, Sikhumbuzo confesses to his role in the crime, saying his older brother Sibusiso asked him to accompany him to Soweto “to kill a man”.
Sikhumbuzo had told the court that the police had coerced him into signing blank documents and that he never made the statement they claim he made.
Khashane’s widow Palesa told the court last week that she and Sibusiso were friends and business associates. At the time of the murder, Sibusiso was using Palesa’s Toyota Yaris, which Khashane had bought for her two weeks earlier. She denied that she had called him the day before and after her husband was killed – this despite records before the court showing that calls were made from her cellphone to a cell number recorded as that belonging to Sibusiso.
The court found it was Palesa’s car that brought the murderers to their home.
Sikhumbuzo’s conviction was as a result of the statement, although his role was to be on the lookout for a particular car. He was even given the registration number of that car and the cellphone to call the others as soon as he saw it.
Judge Satchwell said that, based on that, it was difficult to see what the intended purpose was for him to accompany the murderers.
“He agreed to go with the murderers for no other reason but murder. It’s quite clear that accused one’s (Sikhumbuzo) task was to keep watch, and he accepted it. On this basis, accused one is a co-perpetrator to the murder of Force Khashane.
“It’s not necessary for a co-perpetrator of murder to shoot a gun. They can contribute the same, equally or more,” said Judge Satchwell.
There was no direct evidence linking Sibusiso to the crime, but circumstantial evidence was overwhelming enough to sink him. He had testified that he was in Vosloorus on the day and time of the crime, and the Yaris was parked at the hostel where he stayed.
But cellphone records indicated that he was in the area at the time and the car was seen by a witness in the vicinity of Khashane’s house that night.
“He may or may not be one of the men who got out of the car or fired shots at Force Khashane, but it is beyond doubt that the Yaris brought the murderers to the scene.
The accused might have been the driver or the shooter, but it does not really matter. Whichever he was, he was a perpetrator of murder. He provided the car that enabled the murderers to get to Force Khashane’s house.”
While Khashane’s family arrived in court in a kombi, they sat far from Palesa and did not speak to her. Palesa, who had been married to Khashane for 17 years and has two children, said the relationship between her and his family was “sour”.
“When they discovered that he (Sibusiso) had the car, they alleged that I had killed Force for money. But after this I hope to find closure. There was a lot of speculation around this case and now the matter will be laid to rest. I trusted him (Sibusiso). I never expected this, but you are always betrayed by the people you trust,” she said after the case was adjourned to tomorrow for sentencing.