A healthy, good and caring person is how murdered 86-year-old Anne Smit was described by her son in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Wednesday.
Testifying in aggravation of sentencing of Sizwe Jika, 28, and Junior Lungisa, 22 — who in February were convicted of Smit’s murder — her son, Eugene, said her family would never be the same.
Smit was brutally attacked with a hammer in her Martha Street, Kamma Park home on May 28 2018. She was admitted to hospital with a shattered skull but died from complications on June 27.
“[My mother] wasn’t sick or anything. The way she lost her life is unacceptable. She could have lived for a long time because she was a healthy person,” Eugene said.
It was his opinion that Jika and Lungisa should receive lengthy sentences.
“They mustn’t be allowed out because they will do it again. [The court] needs to save someone else from suffering,” Eugene said.
Lungisa’s defence lawyer, Peet Schoonraad, asked the court to consider deviating from prescribed minimum sentences in light of substantial and compelling circumstances.
These, according to Schoonraad, included that Lungisa was intellectually challenged and had to attend a special needs school, and that he grew up in very difficult socioeconomic circumstances as he was one of 12 children to a pensioner father and a mother who was an informal trader.
According to Schoonraad, Lungisa had witnessed the murder of his brother during a robbery and at the age of 10 he was detained on a rape charge, but later released.
Schoonraad asked the court to consider him a first-time offender and keep in mind that he had been using dagga and tik on the day of the attack on Smit.
Jika’s defence counsel, Khaya Saziwa, said his client had suffered immensely after being left to fend for himself when his mother, sister and aunt had passed away within two years.
“[Jika] grew up with no parental guidance. He started shoplifting to feed himself,” Saziwa said.
Jika was already serving a 16-year sentence after pleading guilty to six counts of housebreaking.
Apart from being convicted on at least 12 other charges, Jika is also accused of the July 2018 murder of Brymore Park resident Kelly Bain, 26, and the May 2018 murder of Summerstrand resident Ann Ferreira, 83.
Both men are expected to be sentenced on June 3.
Convicted killers plead for leniency in sentence
Image: DEVON KOEN
A healthy, good and caring person is how murdered 86-year-old Anne Smit was described by her son in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Wednesday.
Testifying in aggravation of sentencing of Sizwe Jika, 28, and Junior Lungisa, 22 — who in February were convicted of Smit’s murder — her son, Eugene, said her family would never be the same.
Smit was brutally attacked with a hammer in her Martha Street, Kamma Park home on May 28 2018. She was admitted to hospital with a shattered skull but died from complications on June 27.
“[My mother] wasn’t sick or anything. The way she lost her life is unacceptable. She could have lived for a long time because she was a healthy person,” Eugene said.
It was his opinion that Jika and Lungisa should receive lengthy sentences.
“They mustn’t be allowed out because they will do it again. [The court] needs to save someone else from suffering,” Eugene said.
Lungisa’s defence lawyer, Peet Schoonraad, asked the court to consider deviating from prescribed minimum sentences in light of substantial and compelling circumstances.
These, according to Schoonraad, included that Lungisa was intellectually challenged and had to attend a special needs school, and that he grew up in very difficult socioeconomic circumstances as he was one of 12 children to a pensioner father and a mother who was an informal trader.
According to Schoonraad, Lungisa had witnessed the murder of his brother during a robbery and at the age of 10 he was detained on a rape charge, but later released.
Schoonraad asked the court to consider him a first-time offender and keep in mind that he had been using dagga and tik on the day of the attack on Smit.
Jika’s defence counsel, Khaya Saziwa, said his client had suffered immensely after being left to fend for himself when his mother, sister and aunt had passed away within two years.
“[Jika] grew up with no parental guidance. He started shoplifting to feed himself,” Saziwa said.
Jika was already serving a 16-year sentence after pleading guilty to six counts of housebreaking.
Apart from being convicted on at least 12 other charges, Jika is also accused of the July 2018 murder of Brymore Park resident Kelly Bain, 26, and the May 2018 murder of Summerstrand resident Ann Ferreira, 83.
Both men are expected to be sentenced on June 3.
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