Thando Chwayi among three suspects convicted for murder. Pic: Supplied
Cape Town - The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed an application by three convicted killers from Khayelitsha to have their sentences reduced for the murder of Pasika Kwaza in a plot set-up by his wife.
The application by Loyiso Ludidi, Thando Chwayi, and Sivuyile Shasha comes after they were convicted and sentenced for conspiring with Kwaza’s wife, Patience, to kill him.
The case dates back to 2022, when the four suspects went on trial after they were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and robbery, murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and defeating the ends of justice.
According to the State’s case, Patience was allegedly abused by her husband and had filed a domestic violence interdiction against him.
She also applied for a maintenance order.
At the time, she got wind of a plot by her estranged husband to have her killed, but decided to take action beforehand and made arrangements of her own.
Patience shared a home with her husband and his son, Lwandile Kwaza, in Kuyasa.
Chwayi informed Patience of the plot by her husband to have her killed.
As a response, she then allegedly arranged with Chwayi to hire people to kill her husband instead.
In the SCA judgment, Judge Caroline Heaton Nicholls highlighted that while being found guilty of murder, the wife was not handed a life sentence by the High Court as it was found her plot was a pre-emptive strike to remove a potential threat as it was likely that he would have killed her had she gone to the police.
“Her reduced moral blameworthiness and lengthy pre-sentencing detention were considered to be substantial and compelling circumstances warranting a lesser sentence than the prescribed minimum sentence.
“Ms Kwaza was given a finite sentence of 12 years’ imprisonment.”
In their appeal, the trio called on the SCA to take into consideration that by the time they were sentenced, they had already been in custody for five years and eight months.
The judge found that this time period was also due to drawn-out bail hearings followed by appeals and pre-trials delayed due to legal representatives not being available.
The judge further commented on the murder, saying it was a heinous crime and labelled the trio as “hire assassins”.
“They were hired assassins willing to murder whoever was identified if they were paid for the deed.
“There is nothing disproportionate about their sentences of life imprisonment.
“Regarding the period in custody as awaiting trial prisoners, unless this is an exceptionally long period of time to which the conduct of the accused persons has not materially contributed, this in my view, can never in and of itself, be a substantial and compelling circumstance where life imprisonment is imposed.”
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