The appeal by two Cape Flats men convicted in a case where a 15-year-old pregnant girl survived after being shot 25 times while four other house occupants were killed, was dismissed on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed the appeal by Kashief Naude and Garreth Solomons against four counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
Four people were killed in the shooting incident in Bishop Lavis on May 7 2004.
A fifth, Liezel van Heerden, 15-year-old at the time and pregnant, sustaining 25 gunshots wounds but survived.
She identified a third attacker on the night, Marco Moosa, who was sentenced to four life sentences.
On each of the counts of murder and on the count of attempted murder Naude was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. All the sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
Solomons was sentenced to life imprisonment on each of the first five counts. Naude and Solomons both appealed against their convictions on the basis of insufficient evidence.
Naude also appealed against the effective sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment. Moosa did not appeal any aspect of the case.
On Tuesday, the SCA dismissed the appeal of both Naude and Solomons against their convictions, while Naude’s appeal against his sentence was also dismissed.
The SCA held the trial court was correct in holding against the men for their failure to testify in the face of evidence clearly implicating them.
It found a court was unlikely to reject credible evidence, which an accused had chosen not to deny and that in such instances an accused’s failure to testify was bound to strengthen the prosecution’s case.
It held that the court below rightly convicted the two appellants.
The SCA also held that the murders were brutal, bloody and heinous and deserving of the full force of the law.
Appeal Judge MS Navsa in his judgement also criticised the “extremely sloppy nature” of the police investigation in the matter.
He said the forensic tests in the case were either badly conducted or not conducted at all.
Navsa said although it was accepted police were working under pressure and with limited resources there was no excuse for not collecting vital items and not sending what they have for proper testing.
This could result in more efficient prosecutions, he said. – Sapa