Cape Town - Convicted killer Gcinlelitha Ngcobelothe has turned to the Western Cape HIgh Court to appeal his conviction and sentencing for the brutal murders of Ottery pensioners Rugeya and Riedwaan Addinall.
Ngcobelothe, who was the couple’s gardener, along with his co accused Lwazi Ntsibantsiba were sentenced to a combined 117 years in prison by Judge Brian Hack after a lengthy trial.
The couple, both aged 82, were found to have been strangled in their home on January 5 2019, while some of their possessions had been packed into a stationary vehicle.
During the shocking trial, medical experts revealed that the pensioners had suffered severe bodily trauma and tests revealed that the accused had also shoved Rattex into the elderly women’s mouth.
The duo both turned on each other with each claiming not to have been present during the murders.
Ngcobelothe was sentenced to life imprisonment for each murder and 15 years for robbery while Ntsibantsiba received 20 years for each of the murders and 12 years for robbery.
In his judgment for sentencing, Hack said he found Ngcobelothe appeared aggressive and intolerant towards the state and made repeated allegations of a conspiracy against him. He said Ngcobelothe showed no mercy to the helpless pensioners and did not divert from the prescribed minimum sentence as he handed down the life sentence.
Hack said he took note that Ntsibantsiba was only 20 years old at the time of the crime but highlighted that he was not familiar with the couple at the time of the murders and said he showed no remorse and that his role in the murders was equally as heinous.
In an appeal application lodged by Advocate Bash Sibda, Ngcobelothe claims the judge erred by relying on the evidence of state witnesses. He said the sentence handed down did not consider that Ngcobelothe was a first offender and described the length of the sentences as ‘extraordinary’.
“The length of the sentences imposed are of such an extraordinary length as to break the spirit of a young first offender.”
Cape Argus