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ANC manager jailed for child's killing |
| Abrahamse gets 10 months in prison and supervision ANC general manager Uriel Abrahamse, who killed a child while chasing a suspect who stole his son's cellphone, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment. "Was there any justification in firing a shot at that time? I cannot see any," said Magistrate Koos Pretorius during sentencing at the Newlands Regional Court this morning. Abrahamse's legal counsel, Marchand Kilian, immediately applied for leave to appeal. On October 22, 2009, Abrahamse's son was robbed of a cellphone near their home in Westdene. Abrahamse was awoken and he pursued the suspect, firing a shot which ricocheted off a fence, killing four-year-old Gwadiso Richard Belang jr who was playing with other children inside a creche. Outside court today, Gwadiso's mother, Abigail, was reduced to tears as the family looked at pictures of their dead son on a cellphone. "I doubt very much that the mother of the deceased will recover the happiness, the sense of completeness... The very joy of her existence has been destroyed," said the magistrate. The courtroom was packed with friends and family of both the accused and victim forced to sit on the floor while heavily armed policemen stood guard over the Belang family. Magistrate Pretorius said Abrahamse still had a valuable role to play in society and will be eligible for correctional supervision after serving 10 months of his sentence. The magistrate considered a non-custodial sentence but found that Abrahamse had been "aggressive and wanted to do something to the suspect who had robbed his son". "Firearms are the bane of our society... "Where a child is involved there's normally an outcry by members of our society," said Magistrate Pretorius. He said although Abrahamse had fought for the liberation of South Africa by joining the armed struggle, he should have acted more responsibly, having received firearm training. Earlier Marchand had argued that his client had shown great remorse for his actions and was an "excellent" candidate for correctional supervision. "What the accused must be sentenced for today is for an error in judgement which he exercised at the time," argued Marchand. He pointed out that Abrahamse was a general manager at the ANC's head office, was a first offender, was married with two children and had offered to set up a trust in honour of the victim. "He is still not coping with what happened," said Marchand. Abrahamse's entire family were receiving counselling over the incident. Prosecutor Charlene Panaino said Abrahamse should have received a harsher sentence and the court should have been mindful of the message it sends out to the broader society. By Beauregard Tromp The Star 10/03/10e4 Click here to respond to this article - Your responses will get vetted and printed on "Have your Say" |
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