Mom tells court gran killer has been troublesome from young age
SHELDON Naicker is no ordinary young man.
He was caught smoking dagga at the age of 10, sent to Boys Town, and had been arrested for malicious damage to property.
His mother had also taken out a domestic violence protection order against him.
Now 22, Naicker will spend 23 years in prison for strangling his granny, Mariamma Govender, 82, at her home in Phoenix on August 8 last year.
Dressed in a black T-shirt and faded jeans, a grubby looking Naicker seemed unfazed as KwaZulu-Natal’s top judge said he would spend the best years of his life behind bars.
As Durban High Court Judge President Achmat Jappie passed sentence on Thursday, Naicker looked confused.
Minutes before, he stared at his mother, Yano, as she testified about his childhood.
Yano told the court her son had been troublesome from a young age.
Diagnosed with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, he had been on prescription medication Ritalin since he was 5.
Despite his stay at Boys Town, which provides services for children “at-risk”, and families in difficulty, he remained disorderly.
“We have had a problem with his behaviour from a young age. At the age of 10 we found out he was smoking dagga. He would also go into a fit of rage, not realising the damage he had caused,” Yano said.
“I have had him arrested for malicious damage to property, as well as obtained a domestic violence protection order against him.”
Yano said she had tried to seek help for him from different rehabilitation centres, as well as the police.
“We went to the police station to get him help. We asked them to put him in lockdown, just before this could happen.
“Right now, I am torn inside,” she said.
“I did not want my child to be in prison for murder… Although he deserves to be punished for his crime, I hope he receives the help he badly needs, and is able to reform, and hopefully even study and better his life.”
Naicker was sentenced to 20 years for murder, 10 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances and three years for theft.
The 20-year and 10-year sentences will run concurrently, meaning he will serve an effective 23 years in prison.
Judge Jappie described Naicker’s deeds as “a tragedy”.
“A family has lost an elderly member, all because of your craving for drugs,” he said.
“It is always a difficult task when one has to sentence a young man, whose life has not even begun, and now the best years of his life will be spent behind bars.”
During the four-day trial, State witness Emmanuel Pillay told the court how he and Naicker had escaped from a rehabilitation centre in eMkhomazi, and had taken a train to Phoenix.
Naicker had gone to his grandmother’s house and had returned with R400, as well as a 42-inch flat screen television, he said.
The following day, August 9, both men had met with Pillay’s girlfriend, Audrey Minnie.
After spending a day together, Naicker disappeared, and after checking her handbag, Minnie had discovered her cellphones – a BlackBerry and a Samsung – were gone.
Govender’s tenant, Mervyn Moodley, testified he had made
the gruesome discovery of her body on the evening of August 8.
A trial-within-a-trial commenced after Naicker claimed he had not been informed of his right to legal representation at the time of his arrest.
However, the investigating officer, Warrant Officer PJ Moodley of Phoenix SAPS, who had picked up Naicker from the Kempton Park SAPS in Gauteng after he was arrested on August 21 last year, said Naicker had been informed of his rights on three occasions.
However, he declined legal representation and willingly signed documents to proceed with pointing out the crime scenes, he said.