An Eastern Cape man has had his 45-year prison sentence reduced by 11 years after the court found he had been a child when he committed the crimes.
Raymond Mgobozi was sentenced for murder, attempted murder and attempted robbery in 2004 for crimes committed at Lady Frere Supermarket and Wholesalers on April 3 1997, when he was 15.
Mgobozi was carrying a firearm when he and an accomplice entered the shop demanding money and ordered Michael Ioannou and Khefu Madani, who were alone in the shop, to lie on their stomachs.
John Ioannou, Michael’s father, arrived and when he saw the gun he put his hands in the air and begged for his son’s life.
Shots were fired and John died from a chest wound while Michael was left severely injured and left in a vegetative state after sustaining a gunshot wound to his head.
A neurosurgeon said he was brain damaged, paralysed on the right side and unable to understand or produce speech.
Mgobozi was arrested for his role in the crime and sentenced to 45 years’ imprisonment.
He appealed the sentence in the Mthatha High Court with his legal team arguing that his age had not been considered at the time he was sentenced.
Judge Gerald Bloem, who heard the appeal on March 30, agreed that because Mgobozi was a child at the time of the crime, the offences may have been committed “due to immature judgment, youth vulnerability to error, impulse and influence”.
Two years before his 2004 sentencing, Mgobozi had been found guilty of robbery with aggravated circumstances in the Mitchell’s Square Regional Court, Cape Town, and sentenced to 15 years.
When he was sentenced to 45 years for the Lady Frere crimes, 15 of those years were to be served concurrently with the 2002 sentence.
It is believed Mgobozi could now soon be released on parole. — siyab@dispatch.co.za
11 years cut from killer’s sentence
Raymond Mgobozi was sentenced for murder, attempted murder and attempted robbery in 2004 for crimes committed at Lady Frere Supermarket and Wholesalers on April 3 1997, when he was 15.
Mgobozi was carrying a firearm when he and an accomplice entered the shop demanding money and ordered Michael Ioannou and Khefu Madani, who were alone in the shop, to lie on their stomachs.
John Ioannou, Michael’s father, arrived and when he saw the gun he put his hands in the air and begged for his son’s life.
Shots were fired and John died from a chest wound while Michael was left severely injured and left in a vegetative state after sustaining a gunshot wound to his head.
A neurosurgeon said he was brain damaged, paralysed on the right side and unable to understand or produce speech.
Mgobozi was arrested for his role in the crime and sentenced to 45 years’ imprisonment.
He appealed the sentence in the Mthatha High Court with his legal team arguing that his age had not been considered at the time he was sentenced.
Judge Gerald Bloem, who heard the appeal on March 30, agreed that because Mgobozi was a child at the time of the crime, the offences may have been committed “due to immature judgment, youth vulnerability to error, impulse and influence”.
Two years before his 2004 sentencing, Mgobozi had been found guilty of robbery with aggravated circumstances in the Mitchell’s Square Regional Court, Cape Town, and sentenced to 15 years.
When he was sentenced to 45 years for the Lady Frere crimes, 15 of those years were to be served concurrently with the 2002 sentence.
It is believed Mgobozi could now soon be released on parole. — siyab@dispatch.co.za
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