The three accused Lefa Soaisa (19), Vuyani Jacob Makhapela (16) and Mojalefa Nathan France (17) who are members of a notorious ‘Born to Kill’ (BTK) gang were each sentenced to three life imprisonment for three murders they committed in 2019. All three accused received an additional 15 years each for armed robbery and another three years for contravention of the Prevention of Organized Crime Act.
After their sentence the accused applied for leave to appeal their conviction and the case was finalized by Bloemfontein High Court on 28 August 2019.
It was discovered during trial that in the beginning of February 2019, the accused were walking in Mangaung location with the deceased who are presumed to have been from a rival gang (Maroma). The accused made the deceased believe that they all belonging to the same gang and on that fateful night, all went to a shack where the deceased were beaten and stabbed multiple times with a sharp object. Their bodies were thereafter dumped near a Shopping mall in Mangaung, and were discovered by a passer-by who alerted the police. The deceased were found with over fifty stab wounds to the body.
The accused were arrested on the 29 February 2019, and were remanded in custody until their sentence on 23 August 2019.
Mangaung was infested with a number of gang related activities during that period and through the commitment and diligent by the Task team established to deal with organized crime including gangs, a number of gangs were arrested and convicted. It is with this that we welcome this sentence as it brings stability to Mangaung area, and will serve as a deterrent to other gang members. We continue to prevent, combat and investigate any crime that threaten the safety of our community as per our Constitutional mandate.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
