The National Head of the Directorate For Priority Crime Investigation Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya has welcomed the twenty years sentences imposed on eight men by the Mogwase High Court on Wednesday for the murder of former ANC councillor Petros Charlie Sabata.
Sabata was murdered on 8 December 2016, by a group of men who hacked him with pangas following a dispute over the allocation of RDP houses.
The North West Hawks’ Priority Violent Crimes investigated the case and arrested fourteen suspects in connection with the murder. Charges were withdrawn against six of the suspects and the remaining eight accused were found guilty of murder.
The accused: Aubrey Goemeone Seitsang (38), Sibonile Sobopha (32), Herbert Baxesi (36), William Nyenyane (32), Samson Gqwetani (52), Mzoli Gift Luvela (39), Luvo Soyizwaphi (32), and Mzolisi Mbulane (48) are to serve an effective 20 years imprisonment term each.
“It can never be business as usual when people take the law into their own hands regardless of what their grievances are about. The authority of the state will be applied without fear or favour at all times, this sentence is testament to the collaborative efforts by the prosecuting and investigative teams. We hope the sentence will discourage lawlessness in all its forms,” Lieutenant General Lebeya concluded.
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