Jub Jub to appeal 25-year sentence

2012-12-05 19:00

(Picture: Sapa)

Sixolisiwe Ndawo, City Press

Johannesburg - Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye will appeal after a 25-year sentence was handed down in the Protea Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

Maarohanye and co-accused Themba Tshabalala were effectively sentenced to 25 years in jail for a street-racing incident in which four pupils had died and two were left brain damaged.

They were both sentenced to 20 years for the murders and four years for attempted murder. For the use of drugs, driving under the influence of drugs and racing on a public road they received a year (three years, to run concurrently).

Jub Jub's lawyer, Rudi Krause, said both would appeal.

Earlier on Wednesday, Maarohanye said if he were to escape a jail sentence, he would write a track about the tragedy.

Maarohanye read out a list to the court of what he would do if he were to escape a jail sentence.

This included erecting tombstones for the victims and holding a benefit concert.

He admitted to driving under the influence of alcohol but said: “I urge the honourable court to take into account that I have never been involved in a motor vehicle accident.”

State prosecutor Raymond Mathenjwa put it to Maarohanye that he had not shown remorse.

Said Maarohanye: "I want to apologise based on the fact that I was part of the accident."

Arguing in mitigation of sentence, Krause asked the court to “have an eye on the future” since his client could not undo the past.

He asked the court not to sentence Maarohanye to life imprisonment.

But Mathenjwa said Maarohanye had failed to own up to his part in the incident, blaming everything on Tshabalala.

He said all the parents of the deceased wanted was for Maarohanye and Tshabalala to say: "We are sorry for our actions."

He argued that they deserved life sentences as there were no exceptional circumstances which proved otherwise.

- City Press