A study by the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention has shown that young people who have been victims of violent crimes are six times more likely to commit a crime than those who have not been victimized. We take a look at some of the horrific crimes, including murder and rape, committed by young people.
15-YEAR-OLD ORCHESTRATION FAMILY MURDER
Onthatile Sebati, who was only 15 years old when she orchestrated the murders of her parents, a policeman, and a nurse, her pregnant sister, and her brother was sentenced to a 25-year sentence by the Pretoria High Court in October this year. Sebati, now 24, hired her cousins Tumelo and Kagiso Mokone to kill her family and promised them an R100,000 fee for the hit in December 2016. She had given her cousins her father's gun the night before the murders were committed and also gave them access to the house, and they went in to shoot the entire family. As the cousins were about to flee, she asked them to shoot her in the thigh. The two have since been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Sebati only confessed to the murder in 2021, which led to their arrest. According to the state, she was high on drugs when she told other family members about what she and her cousins had done. The trio was found guilty by the Pretoria High Court in January on charges of murder, theft, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of a firearm, and possession of ammunition.
23-YEAR-OLD SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR RAPE
In April this year, the Mthatha Regional Court in the Eastern Cape sentenced a 23-year-old, Inganathi Ntwanambi, to life for raping and robbing an 84-year-old granny at Mahibe Location, Tabase Administrative Area, last year. Eastern Cape National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said in addition to the charges of rape and robbery, Ntwanambi was convicted of housebreaking with intent to commit a crime but took all the charges as one sentence. According to Tyali, the elderly woman, who was Ntwanambi's neighbour, had just received her monthly SASSA grant when she was woken up by a knock on her door in May last year. The person knocking on the door introduced himself as her son, but she refused to open it as she could tell that the voice was not that of her son. Ntwanambi kicked the door down and upon entering, demanded R2,000. She told him that she had already paid her debts and offered him R500. Tyali said Ntwanambi counted the money and told the granny that because it was not enough, she had to pay the remainder with sex and proceeded to rape her before fleeing. He was later identified by the granny and arrested.
TEEN ARRESTED FOR ASSAULTING GRANDMOTHER OVER FOOD
In July, the country woke to a shocking video of a young man called Luvo attacking his grandmother, allegedly for food. The video of the 19-year-old teenager from Wallacedene in Kraaifontein, Western Cape, went viral on social media, prompting the police to investigate the matter. In the video, Luvo can be heard demanding food from his grandmother: "There is no food for you here." He subsequently slapped the elderly woman multiple times, causing her to fall on her knees and spill the food. The young man went on to warn his grandmother not to be too familiar with him and continued to assault her. Western Cape police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut said the Kraaifontein police registered a case docket when the video emerged on social media, and the granny was traced to a hospital where she is being treated for an ailment not related to the assault, but she declined to submit a statement. The teenager was arrested and appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrates Court after he was charged.
TEEN USES R350 GRANT SAVINGS TO HIRE A HITMAN TO KILL STEPFATHER
After entering a guilty plea at the Eastern Cape High Court last month, a teenager who used funds from his R350 social relief grant to pay a hitman to kill his violent stepfather was given an 18-year prison sentence. According to the State, 19-year-old Sinawo Mgingywa planned the murder after a particularly violent incident in which his stepfather beat his mother with a sjambok and hammer. He then approached someone he met online to have his stepfather killed in return for R20,000, which he agreed to pay from his grant in R350 installments each month. The alleged hitman, Aphiwe Sangezo shot his stepfather Qondile Mnguni twice in December 2023 after breaking in via a window that Mginywa had opened for him. Sinawo then paid Sangezo R3 500 he had saved from the grant. Sangezo is still on the run.
TEEN JAILED FOR MURDER AND RAPE OF A TODDLER
A teenager, Frans Hendricks (18), was sentenced to concurrent sentences of 22 and 25 years in jail by the Makhanda High Court in the Eastern Cape for the murder and rape of a two-year-old girl. Hendricks was only 17 years old at the time he committed the horrific crime at Uitkomst farm in Somerset East, now KwaNojoli in November 2023. According to NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali, the toddler and her twin sister were visiting their grandparents at Uitkomst Farm, where Hendricks lived and worked on an adjacent farm. The teenager spent the evening at the grandparents' house, mingling with friends and drinking. He then left the party and met the child whom he took to the bushes close to the grandparents' house where he raped and killed her. As if nothing had happened, Hendricks went back to his friends and continued chatting. The girl's body was discovered by her grandfather a day later and Hendricks was arrested the same day.
