Nel 'deserves 20-25 years in jail'

2008-11-19 14:55

Johannesburg - Skierlik murder accused Johann Nel deserves a sentence of between 20 and 25 years, a psychologist told the Mmabatho High Court on Wednesday.

The trial of Nel, who has pleaded guilty to killing four people in Skierlik, North West in an apparent racist attack, continued on Wednesday with testimony from a second psychologist.

Superintendent Lesego Metsi, a police spokesperson attending the trial in the Mmabatho High Court, said criminologist Irma Labuschagne had finished her testimony.

The court heard from another psychologist, Kobus Truter, who recommended a sentence of between 20 and 25 years for 19-year-old Nel, who also pleaded guilty to 11 attempted murder charges.

Believed white people were under attack

The SABC reported that Truter said the fact that Nel's family and friends had repeatedly been victims of violent crime made him believe that white people were under attack.

The court also heard that Nel was given a suspended sentence after shooting and paralysing a man cutting grass alongside a railway line near Rustenburg in 2003.

Metsi said two State psychologists were expected to testify next.

The trial is scheduled to end on Friday.

Nel allegedly went on a shooting spree in the Skierlik informal settlement on January 14. The attack, which was believed to have been racially motivated, left four people dead and several wounded.

Enoch Tshepo Motshelanoka, 10, Anna Moiphitlhi, 31, her three-month-old baby Kegitlho Elizabeth Moiphitlhi and Sivuyile Banani, 35, were killed.

- SAPA