Cape Town – Shorter prison sentences for serial killers have recently become the focus of attention in South Africa’s criminal justice system.
Mohamed Noor was immediately granted leniency from the Western Cape High Court as a result of his notoriety for manslaughter and murder. Now, his cellmate has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in shooting the Australian woman.
Forty years jail time have been given to a man accused of several murders, according to the media.
The Independent.co.za website reported that former Kaizer Chiefs football player Mamudu Ronango has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Ronango has been charged with robbery, rape, theft and the murder of former Cypriot financial analyst Grace Makunga.
Makunga, a Ugandan, was trying to protect her belongings in 2015 when Ronango allegedly tried to rob her. A struggle ensued, and Makunga was beaten unconscious, the reports said.
Ronango then shot her in the head.
Makunga lived in the Limpopo Province, where both Ronango and Noor live.
Noor on trial
In a case dating back to 2002, Noor was on trial in the Western Cape High Court in Worcester for the murder of 18-year-old Gary Naidoo. He was sentenced to eight years for murder and three years for possession of a firearm without a license.
Noor was arrested after Naidoo was found lifeless in the city’s Alexandra township on 15 August 2002.
Noor had been attacked as he was walking his dog in the area and shot three times in the head.
In July 2003, he was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the murder, but the jail term was reduced to eight years under the ANC government’s apartheid-era restitution of sentences.
Murder sentences in the Western Cape High Court have been shortened in recent times due to national pressure from the national anti-apartheid movement, the London-based Human Rights Watch says.
Noor and other serial killers in South Africa are being set up for longer sentences while the violent sexual predators who “mostly evade justice and who may be able to even get away with it”, are not, it continues.
