The former co-owner of the Cape Town branch of the Teazers nightclub, Michael Jackson, was on Monday refused leave to appeal by the Cape High Court against his conviction for the murder of a street child.
Jackson (45) shot dead street child Xolani Zodwana three years ago, in the belief that Zodwana had smashed the driver’s window of his luxury car that was parked in the street outside the nightclub.
Jackson launched his application for leave to appeal the conviction on Thursday last week before acting judge Dumisani Zondi.
The judge ruled the murder was not premeditated and it therefore did not call for life imprisonment. However, Zondi said Jackson had cold-bloodedly shot dead an innocent street child who had done nothing wrong, and in doing so, had displayed a ”callous disrespect” for the child’s life.
There were no substantial or compelling circumstances justifying a sentence less than the prescribed 15 years, the judge said.
Jackson was also found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice, for falsely informing the police that he had thrown the firearm into the sea at Milnerton. He was jailed for an additional year for his attempt to defeat the ends of justice.
Launching the application for leave to appeal the murder conviction last week, Jackson’s counsel, Manne Witz, asked for the extension of Jackson’s R50 000 bail, pending the outcome of the appeal.
The hearing ended late on Friday with the judge saying he needed the weekend to consider the application, and that Jackson would remain in custody until Monday.
At Monday’s proceedings, Zondi ruled that no other court would fault Jackson’s murder conviction, and that Jackson thus had no reasonable prospects of success on appeal.
Witz informed the court that Jackson would now petition the chief justice for leave to appeal — his very last hope. He again applied for the extension of Jackson’s bail, this time pending the outcome of the petition.
Witz contended that the high court was empowered to extend the bail, pending the outcome of the petition, but Zondi ruled that the correct procedure was for the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to decide the question of bail, together with the petition.
The judge agreed with prosecutor Esna Erasmus that, even if the SCA allowed the petition, there was no reason why Jackson ought not immediately begin his year-long jail term for attempting to defeat the ends of justice. — Sapa