/ 1 April 2009

State: Dube killers should get life sentences

The three men who killed reggae icon Lucky Dube should be removed from society and not be considered for parole before serving at least 25 years of their sentence, the prosecution told the High Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

”They didn’t show any remorse … and they are surely not candidates for rehabilitation. This court should impose one sentence only and that sentence is life imprisonment,” state advocate Lethabo Mashiane said.

He was arguing ahead of the sentencing of the trio. On Tuesday Sifiso Mhlanga, Julius Gxowa and Mbuti Mabe were found guilty of killing Dube in October 2007 during a botched hijacking. They were also found guilty of hijacking a Mercedes Benz two days after Dube was killed.

Lawyers representing the three men said on Wednesday that while there were no substantial or compelling circumstances for the court to impose a lesser sentence, Judge Seun Moshidi should consider that they had minor children.

Mashiane disputed this, saying the trio had not considered their children when committing the crime.

”They had these children before they decided to commit the crime, so they can’t now say ‘please have mercy on us because we have children’,” Mashiane said.

The court should also consider that Dube’s killers robbed 14 of his employees of an income and his seven children of a father.

Thuthukani Cele, one of Dube’s nine band members, told the court that his staff included a driver and office workers. Cele said Dube was a humanitarian who gave poor women food and matriculants money to further their studies.

Judge Moshidi stood the matter down for Thursday to consider all the facts.

”The court isn’t going to rush, so the court will give sentence tomorrow at 10am,” Moshidi said. — Sapa