Families of murdered couple welcome sentencing of Rassie Nkuna, former cop - TimesLIVE
The families of murdered couple Lucky and Sabeliwe Mogashoa have welcomed the sentences handed down to those responsible for their deaths, saying the judgment has brought a measure of relief after years of pain.
On Wednesday, the Pretoria high court sentenced repeat criminal Rassie Nkuna and former police officer Jacob Chego to life imprisonment for the murder of the couple.
Handing out the judgment, judge Samuel Makamu described the crime as particularly gruesome and despicable.
The couple were murdered in March 2022 near the Etwatwa off-ramp on the N12 in Ekurhuleni in the presence of their eight–year-old son and one-year-old daughter. At the time of her death, Sabeliwe was six months pregnant.
The court heard Nkuna and Chego had worked together to lure the couple before murdering them for their BMW.
After the proceedings, Lucky’s mother, Maletsatsi Maroga, said she was satisfied with the judgment. “We have felt pain for so many years. It’s so painful to find your children lying dead, killed in front of their children. I cannot forget.
“Their death tore me apart from my grandchildren. I haven’t seen them for years and I cannot see them. I will be OK the day I see my grandchildren. I last saw them when their parents got killed,” she said.
Sabeliwe’s mother, Rachel Zwane, expressed her gratitude to the media for exerting pressure.
Emotional outside court, she said she felt like her family would be able to sleep for the first time in a long time. “Today I am very tearful because I never had to cry, I always had to be strong for everybody. It has been a very exhausting journey for them, especially when they ask questions,” she said.
Zwane said it would take time for her grandchildren to heal. “It’s going to be a very long journey for them. I don’t think we will be able to close the emptiness in their hearts; the void is very deep. Loss of parents at this age is a very deep pain. Even if we can try as grandparents to close the pain, we’re not able to reach there.”
After the sentencing, Chego brought an application for leave to appeal against his conviction and sentence.
Opposing the application for leave to appeal, the state said the grounds advanced did not establish that another court would have a reasonable prospect of reaching a different conclusion on the evidence and findings of the trial court.
The state said the application largely sought to revisit factual findings made by the court and did not identify sound and rational bases where an appellate court would interfere with those findings.
Chego then applied for bail pending the outcome of a petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal, where he will be seeking leave to appeal. That bail application was also refused.
“Thank you, Jesus,” was the reaction from the families in the gallery when the leave to appeal was dismissed.
Lumka Mahanjana, NPA spokesperson, welcomed the sentencing and the ruling dismissing the leave to appeal application.
Police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said it was a victory as they were able to identify rot in SAPS and remove it.
Nkune, who is also due to stand trial for the murder of Hillary Gardee in 2027, is already serving a life sentence for the murders of his girlfriend, Pretty Mazibuko, 46, and her sister, Marcia Mazibuko, 41.
