Life for rape, murder

2003-12-15 14:02

The Circuit Court in Nelspruit on Monday sentenced four men to life imprisonment for the abduction and rape of British tourist Julie Stevens in November last year and the murder of Mozambican Domingo Chambal.

Erick Msibi, 23, Sipho Mbokane, 29, Michael Dube, 20, and Willie Ngwenya, 20, were found guilty of the murder, and were each given a life term on that charge.

Msibi got an additional life sentence on two counts of rape, of which the other three men were found not guilty.

The men were each given a 20 year sentence for armed robbery, 10 years on each of two counts of abduction, and six years for assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Each got four years imprisonment for the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

A count of theft against all four men was scrapped by Judge Nico Coetzee, who found it was a duplication of the armed robbery charge.

Mbokane and Dube were also found guilty of indecent assault and each sentenced to six years in jail on that count. They were each acquitted on a charge of attempted murder.

Msibi and Ngwenya were both acquitted of attempted murder and indecent assault.

Stevens and a South African friend, Tinus Opperman, were abducted by the four men while visiting scenic spots in the Mpumalanga Lowveld on November 16 last year.

They were tied up and gagged before being forced into the back of the Toyota Venture they had been travelling in.

Their attackers took their bank cards and forced them to reveal their PIN codes. The gang stopped at several banks, eventually withdrawing R1000 from Stevens' account.

After driving around for most of the day, during which Stevens was raped twice, the pair's abductors overturned the Venture on a road between Badplaas and Barberton.

Chambal spotted the vehicle lying next to the road and stopped to assist. He was shot in the head at point blank range and died at the scene. The four pleaded not guilty.

- SAPA