PRETORIA – Three farmers convicted of premeditated murder of a farm dweller, Dumisani Phakathi, each received a life sentence during sentencing proceedings in the High Court of South Africa in Pretoria on Friday, 27 March. The convicted farmers are Jaco Wessels Kemp (36), Louise Coetzee (29), and Gert Frederik van der Westhuizen.
State prosecutor Advocate Lawrence More pointed out that the trio killed Phakathi in an inhumane and cruel manner. They were convicted on 17 February of the premeditated murder of Phakathi. The National Prosecution Authority (NPA) of South Africa has welcomed the outcome.
Firearms ban imposed
Lumka Mahanjana, regional spokesperson for the NPA’s Gauteng Division, Pretoria, said in a media statement that the court further declared all three murderers unfit to possess firearms. “They were ordered to surrender all firearms, ammunition, licences, authorisations, and permits to the investigating officer,” she said.
Mahanjana said all three accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and shifted blame onto one another, despite compelling evidence of brutally murdering Phakathi.
Incriminating evidence included the police discovery of Phakathi’s bloodied body in the bakkie which Kemp and Coetzee were travelling in during the early hours of 17 September.
They were stopped during a stop-and-search operation on the R511 towards Brits. Van der Westhuizen handed himself over to the police on 19 September with evidence linking him to Phakathi’s killing.
Attempted cover-up revealed
Mahanjana said evidence presented in court revealed the killers attempted to conceal Phakathi’s body. Police noticed the victim’s legs protruding from underneath bags with his head covered in plastic, leading to their arrest after they failed to give an explanation.
Mahanjana said the state prosecutor, Advocate More, presented compelling evidence through state witnesses, proving the state’s case beyond a reasonable doubt.
“In mitigation of sentence, the accused requested the court to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentence because of the time they had already spent in custody since their arrest and that they have children to take care of. However, Advocate More argued for life imprisonment because the trio killed the deceased for no reason. The deceased was killed in an inhumane and cruel manner. His body was placed in rubbish bags in an attempt to dispose of it at a dumping site,” said Mahanjana.
Racial motivation cited
She said the state prosecutor also read into the record the Victim Impact Statements, facilitated by Court Preparation Officer Lebogang Lebese, where the sister of the deceased expressed that she no longer trusts white people because of the incident.
“In delivering the sentence, the judge agreed with the state that the three showed no remorse for the offence; they killed a man for no apparent reason. Therefore, the only conclusion he can derive from the killing is that it was racially motivated,” said Mahanjana.
The court heard that the victim died following a ruthless attack by the three accused on the day they were having a braai on the chicken farm in Mamokgalieskraal on 16 September 2023.
