Nel's sentencing welcomed
2008-11-21 22:11
Johannesburg - The Congress of South African Trade Unions on Friday welcomed the four life terms imposed on Skierlik shooter Johan Nel by the Mmabatho High Court.
"No lesser sentence could possibly have been given for such an appalling crime, motivated purely by racist obsessions," Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven said in a statement.
He said the sentence should act as a deterrent to any other would-be racist killers that they would be dealt with as harshly by the law.
Nel was sentenced to four life sentences for killing Enoch Tshepo Motshelanoka, 10, Anna Moiphitlhi, 31, her 3-month-old baby Kegitlho Elizabeth Moiphitlhi and Sivuyile Banani, 35, in a racially-motivated shooting spree in the Skierlik informal settlement, near Swartruggens, on January 14.
He was sentenced to an additional 68 years for 11 attempted murders - seven years on each of eight of the charges, in which his victims were wounded and four years in three instances where he shot at people, but did not hit them.
He also received five years for possession of a firearm and three years for possession of ammunition. A charge of damage to property was withdrawn.
The court reportedly ordered that Nel not be considered for parole. It is understood that he intends appealing against the sentence.
The Young Communist League has also welcomed the sentence as a "strong message that perpetrators of heinous and racist murders will be brought to book and rot in jail".
North West police spokesperson Superintendent Lesego Metsi said Judge Ronald Hendricks did not indicate whether the charges would run concurrently.
Metsi said that Judge Hendricks and an advocate of the state were under police protection after each receiving 50 death threats on their cellphones when the court adjourned on Wednesday.
A case of intimidation had been opened.
- SAPA