The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, has sentenced three Zimbabwean nationals, Edison Ngamiko, Amos Hassan Masiya, and Edron Panashe Chisanako, to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of two girls in Olievenhoutbosch.
According to IOL, each man received two life sentences for the murders, along with an additional 10-year sentence for attempted murder and 12 months for being in South Africa illegally.
The tragic incident occurred on February 17, 2023, when the three men encountered the victims, aged 15, 16, and 23, at Mashanganeng Tavern, according to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
Mahanjana explained that the girls had asked the men for money to buy alcohol, and they were initially given R40.
When the girls later requested an extra R20 to pay a male companion to escort them home, the men complied, providing a total of R60.
Later that night, as the girls left the tavern, the men followed them to Mamello Street, where Chisanako demanded sexual favors from the 15-year-old.
After she refused and the 16-year-old intervened, Chisanako shot the 16-year-old in the neck.
He then shot the other two girls multiple times, killing them at the scene.
During the chaos, Ngamiko was accidentally shot. When Ngamiko noticed the 16-year-old was still alive, he tried to kill her, but the gun had run out of bullets. The three men fled the scene.
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The surviving 16-year-old crawled home and reported the attack. Police later discovered the bodies of the two girls during a routine patrol.
Ngamiko was arrested three days later while receiving treatment for his gunshot wound. Masiya, apprehended on unrelated charges on October 9, 2023, was later linked to the murders and identified Chisanako, who was arrested shortly after.
Despite pleading not guilty, the court found all three men guilty. The defense’s plea for leniency, citing family responsibilities in Zimbabwe, was dismissed by the prosecution, which argued that the men showed no remorse and had ties to other violent crimes, including robbery and housebreaking.
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