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22 years for hijack, rape orgy
02/11/2006 23:02 - (SA)
Llewellyn Prince, Die Burger
Cape Town - A man must serve 22 years in prison for his role in an orgy of violence in which a 19-year-old Retreat woman was hijacked, kidnapped, raped and shot to death.
Rashaad Square, 29, of Ravensmead was handed this sentence in the High Court after he admitted in a plea bargain that he had raped and robbed Victoria McLachlan on April 8 2003.
Judge John Hlophe ordered that Square should be moved to another prison for his own safety, in order to avoid his three co-accused in Pollsmoor Prison.
Square, a member of the 28s gang, said in his plea-bargain statement that he, Johannes Petersen, Jonathan Fortune and Mogamat Abdul Gaffoor, all of Ravensmead, had gone to Fifth Avenue in Retreat that night to "rumble".
Wanted 'clients' to rob
The other three pleaded not guilty. Square will give evidence against them when their case is heard separately. In his statement, Square said Gaffoor had said they should be on the lookout for clients to rob.
On the corner of Fifth Avenue, they saw McClachlan, whom they did not know, approaching in her BMW 320.
Gaffoor gave the order to hide behind a church wall when McClachlan stopped to drop off a passenger.
When she stopped her car at an intersection near them, an armed Gaffoor jumped in front of the vehicle and shouted "Where are you?"
Gaffoor allegedly demanded money, and then they got into McClachlan's car and stole her money and gold necklace. The group sped off to a remote part of Philippi, where they parked the car at the entrance to a farm.
"We dragged her from the car by her hair and searched through the car for valuables.
"Gaffoor took her about three metres away from the car and indecently assaulted her.
He later took her to a nearby compost heap and raped her. Fortune and Square, according to his testimony, also raped her.
"Gaffoor said she should die because she had seen our faces. Fortune and I said no, but Gaffoor became aggressive, before they went and fetched Petersen from the car."
According to Square, Gaffoor handed Peterson a weapon and ordered him to kill McClachlan.
'Killed for R100, chain'
He said Fortune and Petersen walked to some bushes with < McClachlan, but returned when the firearm did not go off.
Gaffoor "fixed" it, after which Fortune returned and a shot rang out.
When the group sped off in the car Square said to Gaffoor: "So, you killed that girl for R100 and a gold chain?" They drove to Lavender Hill and Ottery, where the car radio was removed and the vehicle abandoned.
- Die Burger
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