Mulhatton jailed for life for premeditated murder
Ronnie's sister and other family members who were in Court expressed relief that the ordeal was over and that Mulhatton had 'been jailed'.
Kenneth Edwin ‘Jimmy’ Mulhatton (32) has been jailed for life for the premeditated murder in September 2020 of Ronnie Calitz.
Magistrate AJ Ferreira sentenced him to an additional 15 years for murder with aggravating circumstances and five years for arson. Both of these sentences will run concurrently.
The trial has undergone numerous delays since Mulhatton’s arrest on September 17, 2020, after Ronnie was burnt to death in his Beaconsfield Street home on September 16, 2020. The Court found that Mulhatton had wilfully set the house on fire after an apparent argument.
Mulhatton initially pleaded not guilty to the charges. However, he changed his plea to guilty, sighting his apparent conversion to Islam, while in custody in Ladysmith, for the change of heart.
Magistrate Ferreira took this, his apology in writing to Ronnie’s family and friends and his difficult upbringing (which saw him moved from shelter to shelter) into account but reminded the Court that these factors alone were not compelling enough to allow the Court to deviate from the prescribed sentence.
Ronnie’s sister and other family members who were in Court expressed relief that the ordeal was over and that Mulhatton had ‘been jailed’.
They also thanked Detective Nkabini for what they said was his outstanding dedication to the case.
See next week’s Courier for a full account of Magistrate Ferreira’s ruling.
