Fatal hijack earns man 'life+'

2006-08-29 18:25

Pietermaritzburg - A Durban hijacker who shot dead a Pietermaritzburg teacher and wounded his girlfriend was sentenced in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday to life plus 45 years.

Mlandeli Madlala, 22, was given a life sentence for the February 2005 murder of Irshad Jogiat, a teacher who was to obtain a law degree at the end of that year.

In addition, he received 15 years' for robbing Jogiat and his girlfriend Bilkis Bannoo Moola of their car and other items in Pietermaritzburg in aggravating circumstances.

Judge Atkins Moleko said the deterrent and retributive elements of sentencing should be emphasised. Motorists travelling along roads or sitting in their cars were no longer safe.

The couple were sitting in the car when Madlala and another man smashed the driver's window with the butt of a pistol.

Dragged by car

When Jogiat sounded the hooter Madlala fatally shot Jogiat in the stomach. He shot and wounded Moola three times.

The hijackers threw them out of the car. Moola's dress was caught in the vehicle and she was dragged and got abrasions as the hijackers drove away.

Madlala was given 10 years' jail for the attempted murder of Moola.

Inspector Deon de Roubaix later found the hijacked car in Clermont, Durban.

A witness said that on the night of the hijack Madlala was seen driving the car with a plastic sheet covering the missing driver's window.

Members of the police's Durban intervention unit lay siege to his room early one morning a few days later. He refused to surrender and shot at the police.

After two stun grenades were thrown into his room he was arrested. It was later established that the gun in his possession had fired a bullet that was removed from Moola's thigh.

Judge Moleko sentenced Madlala to 15 years' for the attempted murder of three of the arresting police and a further five years for the possession of a stolen firearm and ammunition.

'Bring back death penalty'

Moleko said Jogiat's father, Mohamed Jogiat, and his wife had been severely affected by their son's death.

They had gone for counselling and were on medication. Moola had shown signs of trauma when she testified.

A friend of the family, who lives in the Middle East, and did not want to be named, said the only way to reduce the wave of hijacks, other robberies and attacks was to bring back the death sentence and corporal punishment as was done in some Middle Eastern countries.

- SAPA