Family calls for life jail for accused in Mthatha murder case

Almost a year after Mthatha couple Carl George and Jacqueline were killed, their families say they would only get closure if the suspected three killers were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Carl's father Charles George went as far as saying had the death sentence not been done away with it would have been a more appropriate sentence.

The Miller and George families are aware no amount of jail term would bring back their children. George and Jacqueline's mother Rhona Miller described one  of the accused  Andiphile Mhlophe's claim that he had been tortured and threatened by police as a delay tactic.

Mhlophe, 22, told the court today that Central Police Station police threatened to further torture him by covering his head with a refuse bag sprayed with pepper spray if he did not point out where he and Mkhululi Luwaca, 22, and Bongani Dephana, 22, dumped the two bodies. Police denied the claim in court yesterday.

Speaking outside the Mthatha High Court today, George told the Daily Dispatch that: "I still believe it's a life for life and if we still had the death penalty, that would have been a more appropriate sentence."

Miller said she was hoping the three would be sentenced to life with no chance of any  parole.