Life in jail for Highway murderers

You won’t come out… You’re a threat to society, says judge

ANOTORIOUS repeat offender stood on the head of a man he had just shot while the victim was begging for mercy and refused to let his family take him to hospital, the Durban High Court heard yesterday.

Acting Judge Bulelwa Ndamase took this callous act into account before sentencing Mvuseni Mchunu, 47, to life imprisonment, plus 15 years.

She meted out the same sentence to Simphiwe Sosibo, 38, who stood beside his partner in crime in the dock.

The court heard that Jacques Oosthuizen, 35, who died two days later in the Hillcrest Private Hospital, had been begging for his life while lying in a pool of blood, while his family prayed beside him.

Both Sosibo and Mchunu had been out on parole when they committed the crime.

Judge Ndamase said this had been their opportunity to rehabilitate but they had squandered it.

“You are people who do not respect human lives, have no regard for the law and you cannot be rehabilitated,” she told them.

She told Mchunu that for the greater part of his adult life he had preyed violently on innocent people, breaking into houses. “You are, indeed, a threat to society.”

Recalling the ordeal, Oosthuizen’s widow, Samantha, said: “It was torture.”

Her mother-in-law, Zelda Cronje, told The Independent on Saturday that Mchunu continued to pester them this week when he muttered at the family in an insulting tone after being convicted.

The two women said they were happy with the sentences for the charges of murder, housebreaking and robbery. “It won’t bring my husband back but it will definitely take them off the streets,” said Oosthuizen.

Cronje called the sentence “just perfect”.

At the beginning of yesterday’s proceedings, Simphiwe and Mchunu at first refused to enter the court from the cells. Their defence told the court they felt “intimidated by the media” before proceedings started.

Joined

After a brief adjournment when the legal teams joined Ndamase in chambers, she said photographs could not be taken during proceedings.

After being sentenced, the two were quick to vanish down the stairs and into the cells.

Oosthuizen and her mother-in-law wept quietly as they heard the judge say that her husband would probably have survived the attack had he received treatment sooner.

She also said the two men in the dock were arrogant, pleading not guilty and continued to plead innocence “in the face of overwhelming evidence against them”.

Mchunu had a string of housebreaking charges on his criminal record, dating back to 1984. Most recently, in 2003, he was sentenced to seven years for robbery and three years for illegally having a firearm and ammunition.

Sosibo had been sentenced to 10 years for robbery in 2007 and released on parole in 2012. He had found work that involved guarding the Forest Hills house the Oosthuizens had moved into shortly before the incident, and he informed Mchunu of the family’s movements.

Sosibo, who sported a light beard, shook his head as the judge said the robbery was no coincidence and had been planned.

“He (Sosibo) had studied the family’s movements.”

She said the robbery had been planned and involved the two having travelled from Molweni, where they lived, to Forest Hills to target the Oosthuizens’ home.

The family had just moved from Newcastle so that Jacques, a sales engineer, could take up a new and better job.

The court heard that the Oosthuizen’s eldest child, Claudia, 18, had battled to come to terms with what had happened and stayed down a year at school.

Her 11-year-old brother had battled with anger issues.

“He misses his dad terribly,” Oosthuizen said.

Achievements

“Especially at this part of his life when his dad would have watched him play sport and seen his achievements.”

The family have had to move house five times since the February 2013 incident, fearing for their safety.

State advocate Khatija Essack, who embraced Oosthuizen and Cronje after sentence was passed, said she had never been so moved by a case in her career.

“They won’t come out,” she said of the two men as she consoled the women.

“Even if they were to be released on good behaviour (for the life sentence) after, say, 25 years, they would still have another 15 years.”

Also in the emotional exchange of hugs were investigating officer, Hawks Warrant Officer Sibusiso Ntshongose and Hawks spokesman Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo.

The two victims offered high praise for them for having done “a sterling job”.