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Teen's killer 'praying to God'
22/04/2008 21:36 - (SA)
Pretoria - One of the 20-year-old men who strangled and stabbed to death teenager Samantha Uys felt remorseful about what he did, the Pretoria High Court heard on Tuesday.
The second man insisted he had done nothing wrong.
This emerged from pre-sentencing reports by two probation officers handed to the court in the trial of Ricky "Slash" Godfrey and Kabelo "KB" Mokwena.
They were convicted last year of murdering Uys near a bridge in Silverton in Pretoria and robbing her of her mother's car in November 2005.
The probation officers said the murder had been premeditated during a robbery and the men should be sent to jail for their deeds.
Uys was strangled, stabbed several times and a rock was thrown on to her head after she sneaked out in her mother's car to attend a party in Sunnyside with Godfrey and Mokwena.
Decomposed body found
She was attacked after stopping near a bridge so that her two friends could smoke dagga.
Her decomposed body was discovered in a quarry nine days later. Godfrey and Mokwena later tried to sell the car to get money for drugs.
Probation officer Matome Manyama said Godfrey regarded his involvement in the crimes to be that of a witness.
Godfrey claimed Mokwena had murdered Uys and forced him to help dispose of the body.
Manyama said Godfrey came from a troubled and abusive background. He had been in a reform school after being expelled from a private school for aggressive behaviour.
Godfrey admitted to dagga addiction, but claimed he was never addicted to drugs, although he had stolen money from his grandmother to buy them.
Probation officer K A Pheko said Mokwena had expressed remorse about what he did and told him he was "praying to God to forgive him".
Mokwena claimed he had been under the influence of drugs at the time and that the murder and robbery had been Godfrey's idea.
He insisted Godfrey took part in the murder and had strangled Uys and thrown a rock on her head.
Peko said Mokwena, who once dreamed of becoming a successful businessman, came from a broken family background and had been exposed to domestic violence before his parents divorced, which negatively affected him.
Although he went to private schools and had a supportive family, he had personal problems during adolescence and became addicted to drugs.
The trial continues before Judge Tholi Vilakazi.
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