TWO heavy sentences were handed down by Magistrate Moodley in the Richards Bay Regional Court on Tuesday.
Patric Mabika (45) was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for the murder of a passer-by at the CBD taxi rank on 29 March 2015.
The accused had fired on three men at a vending stall after being involved in an argument.
Two managed to run away but the third was shot and killed.
In his defence, Mabika said the weapon had accidentally discharged when the victim tried to wrest it from him.
However, witnesses testified the victim was carrying shopping parcels in both hands.
A female witness who had sat at the vending stall during the entire altercation and shooting was of no value to the court proceedings as she ‘saw and heard nothing’ and thus could not testify.
The State through prosecutor Lungi Bhengu was still able to prove its case and gain the conviction.
To his credit, the accused had voluntarily gone to the police station and handed over his weapon immediately after the incident.
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Rape
In a separate matter, a 46-year-old Wildenweide man was found guilty of raping the daughter of the family’s domestic worker.
Aged 17 when the incident occurred in 2015, the young woman had asked to work in the place of her sick mother as she desperately needed the money for school fees.
The court heard the accused had lured her to his bedroom where he was watching pornographic videos and forced her to perform a sexual act.
Although the father of two testified he was impotent, and this was supported by his wife during the trial, the version of the victim was accepted by Magistrate Moodley on the evidence presented by State prosecutor Lungi Bhengu.
The offender was sentenced to five years correctional supervision and six years imprisonment, conditionally suspended for five years.
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