THREE ACCUSED SENTENCED TO LENGTHY PRISON TERMS FOR THE MURDER OF THREE FAMILY MEMBERS
Northern Cape, Kimberley – Donald Seoleseng (25), Tshepo Visagie (43), as well as Tshepaone Melato (24) have been convicted and sentenced by the High Court of South Africa, Northern Cape Division that was sitting in Kimberley. The three accused together with Realeboga Manyedi(24)(Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act Witness) and Kgomotso Silvia Mpulwana(48)(accused 4 and acquitted of all charges) are charged with the killing of the three members of the Brand Family, the elderly couple Daniel Petrus Brand (83), his wife Elizabeth (73), and their 54-year-old daughter Elzabie, at their farm in Hartswater. They were facing three counts of murder read with Section 51(1) of Act 105 of 1997, robbery with aggravating circumstances as set out in Section 1 of Act 51 of 1977 and read with Section 51(1) of Act 105 of 1997, three counts of defeating the ends of justice and contravention of Section 51(1) of Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 and Section 51(2) of Act 105 of 1997 (in respect of accused 1- Seoleseng).
On Sunday 26 July 2020, the daughter of the deceased residing in Cape Town called her parents and sister and the calls remained unanswered. Their other daughter later tried to get hold of her family as they had used to call each other, and her calls from her parents and sister remained unanswered. The sister then requested that their neighbours visit their parental farm to check if all was well, and they received the bad news that all was not well, as their home had been ransacked, it looked like a crime scene, but their parents and sister were missing. There were also valuables like their two cars, laptops, cellphones, and handbag that were also missing from their home. The Hartswater Police, as well as the Farming Community, began looking for the missing family members and through diligent police investigations, one of the suspects was arrested. The suspect pointed the police to the places where the three family members had been hidden in the bush near their home. Unfortunately, the police found the three Brand Family Members dead. The other suspects were later arrested, driving the csr belonging to the family, and charged with the murder and robbery of the elderly couple and their daughter. Seoleseng escaped lawful detention and was later rearrested after his family member called the police to inform them of his whereabouts. The accused were remanded in custody until the conclusion of their case in the High Court.
Before the commencement of the trial, Realeboga Manyedi became a Section 204 witness, and it was through his testimony that the court heard what happened on that fateful day. The court heard how Seoleseng, Visagie, as well as Melato, had arrived at the house of Manyedi, who is a younger brother of Visagie, driving the Mazda with the boot of the car full of blood, how they had instructed him to come with a bucket to be able to clean the car. The court also heard through the testimony of Manyedi that the accused had gone back to the place where they had hidden the family members and moved them to another place in trying to defeat the end of justice.
Senior State Advocate Adele Van Heerden for the state argued that the accused had attacked elderly people who were vulnerable even though they could not defend themselves. The attack was calculated as they knew that on Sunday, there would be less traffic and that they could attack these vulnerable family members, and they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves. That the crimes were cruel in nature and without thinking of the lives of the victims. Van Heerden further argued that Seoleseng as well as Melato had only shown remorse and regretted their actions because they were caught for their crimes and faced the possibility of spending the rest of their lives in prison.
In aggravation of sentence, the state argued that the court should sentence the accused to life imprisonment on each count of murder, as the murders were of another level and gruesome in nature.
In sentencing, Kgomotso Silvia Mpulwana was acquitted of all the charges by the high court in Kimberley. The court sentenced Donald Seoleseng, Tshepo Visagie, and Tshepaone Melato to 25 years of direct imprisonment for each count of murder. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently. 15 years of direct imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances, and 5 years for each count of defeating the ends of justice and the court ordered that the sentences run concurrently. Seoleseng was further sentenced to 2 years for escaping lawful detention.
The National Prosecuting Authority will continue to vigorously prosecute these matters, such as murder and robberies with aggravating circumstances that affect the safety and wellbeing of our communities and to ensure justice for victims of crime.
