Identity disputed as accused awaits judgment
THE State and defence counsel presented final arguments to Judge Elizabeth Baartman in the Western Cape High Court on whether Abdur-Rahiem Israel ought to be convicted on the 22 counts of gang-related charges.
Israel has been charged for involvement in a pattern of criminal gang activity, between December 7, 2015 and October 14, 2018. During this period, he allegedly murdered Jacobus Pietersen and Shahied Sallie on separate occasions, and attempted to murder two others.
Further charges include five counts of robbery with aggravated circumstances, seven counts of possession of a firearm, and four counts of unlawful possession of ammunition.
Israel has maintained that he is innocent and told the court that he had been in custody since October 2018, which Judge Baartman said she would take into consideration when deliberating judgment.
Presenting oral arguments in court, State advocate Christiaan de Jongh told the court that Israel was a “lying witness” and asked that his version of events be rejected. He asked the court to accept the versions of several witnesses who implicated Israel and identified him as the perpetrator in at least four different instances.
De Jongh told the court that witnesses had no reason to falsely implicate Israel in the crimes, as he was unknown to some of them.
He said the State had no direct evidence for the murder of Pietersen, who was shot moments after his daughter, her friend and cousin informed him that they were robbed at gunpoint.
Pietersen pursued the perpetrators carrying a brick, gunshots were heard and, when the trio arrived on the scene, he had been shot. He died in hospital.
De Jongh asked the court to consider the crime committed as a matter of common purpose, due to Israel being aware that his accomplice had a weapon and started running when Pietersen pursued them.
It was a different scenario, however, when testimony was given about Sallie’s murder because two witnesses who knew of Israel identified him as the shooter and testified that he belonged to a gang.
For the defence, Nawaal Aburahman submitted that the robbery that led to Pietersen’s murder may have been a case of mistaken identity, “an honest mistake” that could have been made by the complainants, who were traumatised by the incident and could have mistakenly identified Israel as the person wielding the gun. She noted that Israel, while always in the company of others during these incidents, was the only one being charged.
She said her client admitted that he was present during most of the incidents mentioned in the charges, but his involvement was limited. She asked the court to accept his version that he was not the perpetrator in these crimes and was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She said her client became an “American” inside prison and was not part of a gang when the crimes were committed.
Judgment in the matter will be handed down on May 26.