State seeks life for Pretoria killer
2013-02-07 16:44
Pretoria - The State urged the North Gauteng High Court
in Pretoria on Thursday to impose a life sentence on the KwaMhlanga man who
killed a Pretoria North mother and her two children.
Prosecutor Handri Creighton said Sipho Masiqa, 36, was
not an innocent youngster, but a responsible adult who had committed a
horrendous crime.
Acting Judge Bert Bam last month found Masiqa guilty of
the July 2010 murders of Thifhelimibilu Mashau, her 8-month-old baby Avheani
and 4-year-old daughter Adivhao.
He was also convicted of kidnapping and indecently
assaulting Mashau, and stealing her car and other goods.
Masiwa's friend Raymond Matshaba, 29, was convicted as an
accessory after the fact to the three murders and the robbery.
After reading about the murders in a newspaper he
dismantled and burnt Mashau's car to destroy fingerprints.
Bam found that Masiqa strangled both children in their
Theresa Park home, probably after Mashau had let him into the house.
The baby girl's body was found on her mother's bed with
her face covered.
Her little sister was found fully dressed, face down in a
bath half-filled with water.
The judge found Masiqa had robbed Mashau of her car and
other goods, kidnapped her and took her to Ga-Rankuwa where he indecently
assaulted her before stabbing her in the chest and strangling her.
Her half-naked body, dressed only in a pink pyjama top,
was discovered two days later dumped in the veld.
The judge earlier rejected Masiqa's evidence that Mashau,
and a man called Peter, had paid him R10 000 in cash to stage a robbery at her
house so she could claim insurance money.
He rejected claims Masiqa had made to a policeman that
Mashau had strangled her children and then asked him to kill her.
Creighton argued there were no mitigating circumstances
to justify a lesser sentence for Masiqa.
She said Matshaba had aided and abetted a murderer and
robber and should be sentenced to at least 15 years' imprisonment.
Masiqa's lawyer Katlego Matshego said the court should
take into account that her client had two small children of his own.
Matshaba's lawyer Esther Majola argued that her client,
the father of three children, deserved a lesser sentence as he had reported the
matter to the police and co-operated with them.
The two would be sentenced on 14 February.
- SAPA
