Convicted killers might be granted leave to appeal

Alleged irregularities on the part of the police may pave the way for convicted murderers Lwando Lengisi and Simphiwe Tame to appeal against their convictions and subsequent sentences should a judge grant their applications for leave to appeal.

Tame, 24, and Lengisi, 31, were earlier this week handed two life sentences after judge Elna Revelas found them guilty of the murders of Gert Gouws, 51, and Charlie van Zyl, 51, during a botched robbery on June 7 2019.

In the high court in Gqeberha, Revelas found that Tame and Lengisi had acted in common purpose.

The two brought their applications for leave to appeal after they were sentenced on Tuesday. They claim that the court was wrong in convicting them due to irregularities on the part of the police in taking down warning statements and allegedly not having their rights read to them at the time of their arrests.

Revelas said yesterday that she was inclined to grant them leave to appeal but would give a full judgment, and her reasons, tomorrow.

A third accused in the matter, Madoda Lose, 33, was acquitted after successfully bringing an application for his discharge at the close of the state’s case.

Revelas had agreed that there was not enough evidence against Lose for a conviction.

At the start of the trial, all three men pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Lengisi and Tame were found not guilty on the firearm and ammunition charges.

The court found that Lengisi and Tame had shot Gouws and Van Zyl while they escorted employees of JD Chain Suppliers to deliver a bed to a house in Ngoma Street, Zwide.

A witness to the shooting incident had seen one of the men with his right hand inside the open passenger window of Gouws’s Daihatsu Charade when he heard a gunshot go off.

After the shot was fired, Van Zyl ran to the driver’s side of the Charade and another shot was heard.

Van Zyl was shot in the abdomen and died in hospital later.

Gouws died at the scene.