Elderly woman’s murderers jailed for 20 years
● Two sentenced for fatal attack on Kamma Park resident Anne Smit, 86
“It’s too light — they should have got life.”
These were the words of Eugene Smit after hearing that the two men convicted in February of the brutal murder of his 86-year-old mother, Anne Smit, had each been sentenced to an effective 20 years behind bars.
“I have been following the trial since the beginning — [the prosecution] could have done more but, at the end of the day, you can only do so much,” Smit said.
Judge Elna Revelas said while the crimes committed by Sizwe Jika, 28, and Junior Lungisa, 22, were very prevalent in SA, she had to consider both men’s personal circumstances before sentencing them.
“Despite harsh sentencing [of convicted murderers] there is no evidence that these crimes are abating,” Revelas said.
Jika and Lungisa were found guilty of murder, housebreaking with the intent to steal and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
At the start of the trial, Jika — who admitted breaking into at least 100 houses — pleaded guilty only to housebreaking.
Lungisa pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
During the May 28 2018 attack, Smit was bludgeoned over the head several times with a hammer after she found Lungisa and Jika rummaging through the Martha Street, Kamma Park, home where she had been staying in the attached granny flat.
After initially surviving the brutal attack with a fractured skull, she died nearly a month to the day of complications emanating from the attack.
During the trial, the men each claimed the other had attacked Smit.
Revelas said it had become evident during the trial that both men had intended breaking into the house to feed their drug habit, but she could not find that they had intentionally gone to the Martha Street house to murder anyone.
“There are many poor people from similar backgrounds who have not resorted to similar crimes,” she said.
Revelas found that both men had come from extremely difficult socioeconomic backgrounds and dire circumstances, which she had to consider when passing sentence.
“Both grew up in areas with high crime rates.
“The socioeconomic circumstances were dismal,” she said.
Jika, who is serving a 23year sentence after being convicted on 12 charges of housebreaking, received 10 years for housebreaking, 15 years for robbery and 25 years for murder — five of which were suspended for five years.
Revelas ruled that the effective 20 years he received should run concurrently with the sentence he is already serving.
Lungisa received three years for housebreaking, 15 for robbery and 25 for murder, five of which were suspended.
All three sentences will run concurrently.