A man was jailed for life on Friday for killing Coin Security director Jaco Pretorius while fleeing a robbery in Irene in 2009.
|||A man was jailed for life on Friday for killing Coin Security director Jaco Pretorius while fleeing a robbery in Irene in 2009.
Sentencing Zwakahle Mavundla, 34, in Pretoria, High Court Judge Jody Kollapen described Pretorius' murder as brutal, callous and unnecessary.
He said Mavundla and two accomplices, armed with firepower, had walked into the Irene Village mall nonchalantly that morning. They were intent on doing as they pleased.
The three entered the Sterns jewellery store, where they ordered the shop assistant at gunpoint to load jewellery into two plastic bags.
When an unsuspecting security guard entered the shop, he was forced to kneel down and robbed of his cellphone and wallet while Mavundla pointed a firearm at his head.
Mavundla and his cohorts fled when the security guard managed to escape and raised the alarm.
They dropped most of their loot while fleeing through the centre and the parking lot to their getaway car, on their way threatening to shoot another security guard if he did not open the gate for them.
The somewhat overweight Mavundla lagged behind and was left at the scene after his two accomplices jumped into the getaway car and raced from the scene.
He fled on foot, but was approached by Pretorius, who had meanwhile heeded a call to lend assistance.
When Pretorius asked him to stop, he pulled out a firearm and shot and killed Pretorius on the spot.
He was arrested near the scene a short while later while still in possession of the murder weapon.
Judge Kollapen rejected Mavundla's claim that he had nothing to do with the murder and robbery and had been arrested simply because he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
He said several witnesses had identified Mavundla without any hesitation and his version could not possibly be true.
It was clear that the robbery had been well executed and planned and that the robbers had little regard for their victims or the financial integrity of the business.
It remained an injustice that the co-perpetrators were never brought to book, he added.
He said Pretorius, who was in Centurion for training that day, had paid the ultimate price when he elected to become part of the solution to the country's scourge of crime by becoming involved, instead of refusing to help as so many others did.
“The accused had shown a callous disregard for the life of the deceased, who was simply an innocent citizen going about his business when the accused fired the fatal shot.
“...He did not have to shoot the deceased. It did not serve to advance his escape.
“...When there is such a callous disregard for life, the courts have duty to act decisively,” Judge Kollapen said.
Jaco van Niekerk, a security consultant for the Foschini retail group who travels all over the country to monitor robberies and burglaries at the group's stores, testified that the crimes caused a massive disruption to the organisation every time it occurred.
It not only caused financial losses running into millions, but massively traumatised the sales staff, who were totally defenceless against such attacks.
“It affects every one of us directly or indirectly, because it's not a bottomless pit.
“It affects the whole economy... Millions are involved. It's massive,” Van Niekerk testified.
Apart from being sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder, Mavundla was sentenced to a further 35 years imprisonment on two charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, assault, illegal firearm and ammunition possession and maliciously damaging Pretorius' car. - Sapa