The man accused of the kidnapping, rape and murder of six-year-old Michaela Garoenisha Ganchi was found guilty in the Johannesburg High Court on Wednesday, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Ronald Ambrose Jones (27) was found guilty on all five counts, including kidnapping and indecent assault.
The court wholly rejected Jones’s alibi, saying that it could not stand up to scrutiny. To the end, Jones maintained his innocence — he said that he was at home at the time of the crime, but he was unable to provide consistent evidence to support his alibi.
The court labelled Jones as an unimpressive witness who contradicted himself on the key aspects of the case.
Meanwhile, the court upheld the evidence from all the state witnesses, saying that the prosecution had succeeded in proving a strong case against the accused.
The case has been provisionally postponed to April 17 to allow the court to set aside a date for sentencing, the broadcaster said.
Jones kidnapped the girl while she was playing outside her grandparents’ home in Eldorado Park, south of Johannesburg, in October 2005.
Her body was found metres from her home the next day. Jones, who lived nearby, was arrested three months later. — Sapa