Three gunmen were sentenced to life in prison after opening fire on a 21st birthday party in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, killing a woman in the process, Cape {town} Etc reports.
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Ann Hodson-Gabriels (31), died immediately after being transferred to the hospital, while seven others were treated for various gunshot wounds.
Colonel André Traut, a Western Cape police spokesperson, stated at the time that the occupants were inside a green Honda Ballade and fired randomly at visitors shortly after 8:20pm on Montclair Drive in Mandalay on 16 October, 2023.
The youngest of the injured was just five years old.
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The Anti-Gang Unit investigators captured the suspects on 17 October after conducting a manhunt, according to police, who stated that they were thought to have gang affiliations.
The defendants, Moegamat Hartzenberg (26), Jonathan Witbooi (33), and Marawaan Safaar (35), started serving their sentences on Friday, about a year after they were first charged.
Sergeant Bradley Schuurman of the Anti-Gang Unit was given the case docket, according to police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg, who carried out a thorough investigation.
‘He collected crucial evidence and witness statements and presented it before court, and the accused were found guilty on 25 July 2024,’ Twigg said.
On Friday, the Mitchells Plain regional court sentenced the trio to life in prison for murder, five years for attempted murder, 15 years for possession of an unlicensed handgun, and two years for unlawful ammunition possession after they opened fire on a gathering of people in October 2023.
On Sunday, provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile expressed satisfaction with the sentence.
He lauded the investigator who obtained these convictions, saying that it is ‘rewarding when your labour, commitment, and endurance have a satisfactory result’.
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