Convicted murderers lose bid for lighter sentences

Two men determined by a Port Elizabeth judge to have been involved in the Spotbouer gang lost their appeals to have their life sentences for murder reduced.

In December, Damian “Oom Jan” Kammies, 24 and Warren “Wakka” Steyn, 25, were found guilty on charges of murder, kidnapping and housebreaking with the intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Kammies was further found guilty of the illegal possession of a firearm.

In his judgment, Port Elizabeth high court judge Glenn Goosen said there were no compelling or substantial circumstances to deviate from the minimum prescribed sentence of life for murder.

Goosen said the court would only depart from the prescribed sentence if that sentence would be disproportionate and bring about an injustice.

“Despite denials of association with street-gang activities, and in particular the Spotbouer gang, the weight of the evidence establishes beyond doubt that [Kammies] and [Steyn] are indeed active members of the Spotbouer gang.  

“In this case, the known facts point to the commission of a spate of crimes driven by a desire to correct an ‘outrage’ perpetrated against a comrade and a desire to recover a firearm,” Goosen said.

Kammies and Steyn were convicted and sentenced for the murder Mohammed “Mielie” Gamieldien Abdullah, who was forcibly taken from his Gideon Street, Schauderville house in the early hours of November 19 2016.

During the trial it emerged that the pair were looking for Neville “China” Plaatjies, who had allegedly had an altercation with Steyn the previous night regarding a firearm.

Abdullah’s body was found a few hours later near the Malabar cemetery with a gunshot wound to the head.

The pair along with Deilon Makoppa, 32, Christiano “Twakkie” Whitebooi, 20, Kurt Bosman, 30, and Ashton Calvert, 26, initially faced 15 charges between them but after the state closed its case, Whitebooi and Calvert were acquitted on all charges. Goosen found the state could not prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

On December 9, Makoppa and Bosman were also acquitted on all charges including the murder of Deon Matthys, who was shot and killed in a shack he occupied behind a house in Lawler Street, Schauderville.

Goosen found that evidence from a single state witness who testified about the murder of Matthys was not reliable or satisfactory enough to prove guilt.

The men, including Kammies and Steyn, were acquitted on four counts of arson and one count of attempted murder after the alleged victim failed to testify in court.

In their application for leave to appeal their sentences, both men said the three years they had spent in prison as awaiting-trial prisoners should be taken into consideration to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentences imposed.

“A sentence of life imprisonment means precisely what it states. It is a sentence which extends for so long as the prisoner is alive. It has no determinate maximum period. It cannot be ‘reduced’ by the period spent in custody awaiting trial,” Goosen said.

Goosen sentenced Kammies to five years each for housebreaking, kidnapping and the unlawful possession of a firearm and life for murder.

Steyn was sentenced to three years each for housebreaking and kidnapping and life for murder.

Goosen ordered that the sentences run concurrently with the life sentences.