Pretoria - Two men have been sentenced to double life terms and 20 years each for murdering an elderly couple in their shop in Christiana, North West.
The North West High Court in Klerksdorp sentenced Quinton Brits 38, and Mabote Ernest Leshea, 31, on Thursday.
Their sentence emanates from an incident on August 30, 2020 after two customers found an elderly couple murdered in their shop.
“The two immediately notified the police. They found the place to be in disarray, with the husband tied with cable ties, dried blood on both the couple’s noses, and money tills opened.
“The daughter of the deceased later came and confirmed the cellphones and money to be missing.
“Post-mortem reports revealed that the elderly woman died as a result of strangulation, while the elderly man died as a result of coronary arterial disease,” said NPA regional spokesperson Henry Mamothame.
Mamothame said Brits was arrested at Jan Kempdorp on September 1, 2020. Some items were found on him and the items were later identified by the daughter of the deceased.
“Brits subsequently took the police to a house in Christiana, where the loot had been shared,” Mamothame said.
On September 3, 2020, Leshea, who is a Lesotho national, was arrested at Durban Deep near Roodepoort, Gauteng.
He was also found with items that were stolen from the shop.
In aggravation of sentence, the State prosecutor, advocate Kgalalelo Molefe, urged the court not to deviate from the minimum prescribed sentence of life imprisonment on each of the counts of murder.
She urged the court to consider the seriousness of the offence as the victims were elderly people and further pleaded that it impose a sentence that would serve as a deterrent.
Judge Samkelo Gura, agreed with the State and imposed double life imprisonment and 20 years for each accused.
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