Man gets life for farm murder
2008-07-15 19:02
Pretoria - A 24-year-old Phutaditshaba man was jailed for life on Tuesday for the "merciless" murder of an Evander diary farmer two years ago.
Sentencing Steven Moloi, Pretoria High Court Acting Judge Ephraim Makgoba said no words could express the horror of what Moloi had done.
He sentenced Moloi to life and 35 years imprisonment for the September 2006 murder and robbery of farmer Hannes Botha, 64.
The sentences will run concurrently.
Botha was shot in the head and robbed of about R800 while he and three employees were delivering milk in the Embalenhle township near Evander.
One of his employees, Ethel Delport, was forced to hand over the blood-stained money with a gun pointed at her head.
She tried to help her bleeding employer, but he died almost instantly behind the steering wheel of his bakkie.
Moloi was arrested the next day after police found blood-stained money and the murder weapon in his shack.
The judge acquitted a second accused, Elias Senamela, on all charges.
Makgoba said Moloi's poor background should not count in his favour.
"We have millions upon millions of poor people in this country. If they all killed to take care of themselves, we would all be obliterated in this country," the judge said.
Botha's widow, Anna, expressed disappointment after the hearing, saying she believed one of her husband's killers was still free.
She added her husband had delivered milk in the poorest section of Embalenhle for many years and people knew him well.
He often gave free milk to old people and mothers with young babies, she told reporters.
- SAPA