Musgrave murder trial drama
SOUTH Africans fed up with crime should discuss whether the death penalty should be brought back.
This is the view of IFP MP Narend Singh, expressed yesterday at the Durban High Court where three people were waiting to hear their fate for allegedly killing one of his relatives, Shakila Singh, 57.
The Musgrave mother was brutally murdered in her home in February 2016.
Yesterday judgment began and will continue on July 26 and 27.
Speaking outside the court, Narend Singh said: “We lost a dear relative of ours but, without speaking emotionally, we need to start speaking about this issue of violent crime… Today it’s us, tomorrow it’s someone else.
“These crimes are coldblooded and callous, sometimes premeditated. We should look at harsher sentences, including the death penalty, where it’s found someone has deliberately and without any provocation taken the life of another.”
The family packed the courtroom once again, waiting to hear the judgment in the case involving Nonjabulo Mteki, 35, of uMlazi, and two alleged hit men, Kennedy Amon Ngongi, 30, and Ally Jumah Abdullah, 41, who both hail from Tanzania.
Mteki was Singh’s domestic worker, and she, together with Ngongi and Abdullah, stand accused of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances for the killing of Singh.
The men were believed to have entered the home through a door left open by Mteki. Singh was found dead on her bedroom floor with duct tape around her face. Her hands and legs were bound with cable ties.
Narend Singh said: “We need to ask South Africans, do you think in exceptional circumstances where people are found guilty of committing cold, callous murders of innocent people, should we not take away their life?
“I can understand in 1994 there could have been circumstances which made us think there were apartheid judges and probably their judgment will be sort of blemished.
“But now, 20 years down the line, we must ensure the security of our citizens, (they) must be protected, not only by arresting people and putting them behind bars for life, where it costs the taxpayers a lot of money, but it is also sending a strong signal out that (if) you take a life in a certain way, then your life can be taken,” he said.