A man who doused a young woman with petrol and another who set her alight in 2006 were convicted of murder in the Cape High Court on Thursday.
Myron Gordon Daniels (28) and Ashley Lategan (24) are to be sentenced on August 6 for the murder of Monique Martin in a drug den on the Cape Flats on October 12 2006.
They appeared before Judge Patricia Goliath, who found a teenager who was present during the incident not guilty of murder.
A fourth man, Ashwin Hammers (20) who assaulted the woman, was convicted of assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm.
The case arose from the visit by the four to a drug den, where they abused ”tik”.
Daniels fell asleep from the effects of the drug and, while he slept, the woman informed the others that Daniels’ cellphone, which she had in her possession, was missing.
A search failed to locate the missing cellphone, and when Daniels awoke, to hear that his cellphone was missing, he said to Martin: ”You had better find it, or you know what will happen to you.”
Daniels continued to smoke tik, and when the woman had not found his cellphone by the time he had finished the tik pipe, he attacked her.
In the course of the attack he ordered the teenager to fetch petrol at a nearby petrol station.
On the teenager’s return, Lategan emptied the container over the woman, and Daniels set her alight.
Hammers was found guilty of serious assault (but not guilty of murder), because he kicked her when she accused him of taking the missing cellphone.
Hammers is to be sentenced on August 6. – Sapa