Son gets 20 years for hit on dad

A Pietermaritzburg man who confessed to masterminding his father's murder told the court how his father's abuse led to him hiring a hit man.

 Durban - The confessed mastermind of his father’s murder has told how emotional abuse, bullying, a refusal to accept his marriage and ill-treatment of his mentally challenged twin sister led to him hiring a hit man.

Jibraeel Mohideen, 26, was on Wednesday convicted of the murder of Mohamed Ashraf Goolam Mohideen (Mohideen sr) and sentenced in the Pietermaritzburg High Court to 20 years imprisonment.

An unemotional Mohideen pleaded guilty alongside one of his co-accused, hired hit man Zandisile Mtshali, 32, before a public gallery packed with the victim’s family and friends.

Mtshali was sentenced to 25 years.

The other two accused, the Mohideen family’s domestic worker, Emily Mchunu, 52, and her boyfriend, Joshua Nxumalo, appeared briefly in the magistrate’s court on Wednesday where they were remanded in custody until April 30 for a bail application.

It is unclear whether they may also choose to plead guilty in the light of Mohideen and Mtshali’s confessions.

Mohideen , 57, who was the owner of Lee’s Auto Sales, was killed in his James Niven Road home in Scottsville on February 25. He was stabbed, beaten with a hammer and his throat was slit.

The court also heard that Mohideen’s mentally challenged twin sister had been in the house at the time her father was attacked and killed.

Addressing Mohideen, Judge Rishi Seegobin said he had committed the worst sin any child could ever commit, that of taking his father’s life.

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” the judge said.

Seegobin found that it was particularly repulsive that Mohideen killed his own father.

“For the rest of your life, you will live with the knowledge that you were instrumental in having your father killed. While your father may have treated you unfairly and harshly at times, he did not deserve to die in this manner.

“Having had time to reflect on your conduct, you may now feel that your father was not that bad after all,”the judge said.

Seegobin said it was disturbing that Mohideen was old enough to sever ties with his father, yet he chose the path of murder instead.

“This is also reflective of a society that has lost all ability to engage in constructive dialogue to address issues,” he said.

Referring to Mtshali, the judge said that while Mohideen may have had reasons to plot his father’s death, Mtshali was motivated purely by greed and was nothing more than a cold-blooded killer.

“It is a tragedy that people out there are prepared to kill for paltry sums of money. This just serves to illustrate how cheap life has become in this country,” he said.

The judge found that it was aggravating that Mohideen sr was killed in the sanctity of his own home, and said that the post-mortem report revealed a chilling account of how he met his end.

The businessman suffered several stab wounds and abrasions to his face, head and upper body as well as several defensive wounds on his arms and hands.

His throat was slit - the wound measured 15cm in length and 8cm in width.

“While he may have tried to defend himself, he stood no chance against the viciousness of his attackers,” Seegobin said.

The judge found that while the crime committed was of a serious nature, there were mitigating factors for both accused which justified a deviation from the prescribed life sentence.

These included that both are first offenders, that they pleaded guilty and showed remorse.

They were also willing to testify against Mchunu and Nxumalo if the need arose.

Mohideen’s aunt, who asked that her name not be published, said after the sentence that they felt he was “lucky” to get away with 20 years.

Family members hugged each other and cried after the sentencing.

In a victim impact statement to the court, Mohideen sr’s brother, Jalaloodeen Tajoodeen, said the family had been traumatised by the murder.

Referring to Mohideen’s twin sister, Nabeelah, Tajoodeen said the separation from both her father and brother, with whom she shared a close bond, had taken a toll on her well-being.

“She was totally dependent on her father who played the dual role of mother and father in her life. She does not have the capacity to comprehend the severity of the situation at hand,” he said.

Tajoodeen said the worst part was that she had been displaced from the comfort of her home and was now in the care of relatives.

He said that his brother’s business had closed down, putting a number of employees out of work. “This entire situation has caused our family tremendous pain and embarrassment,” he said.

The pleas

Jibraeel Mohideen’s guilty plea: “My father and I had a troubled relationship characterised by frequent disagreements and arguments. Although my father projected the persona of a loving father in public, in private he was a bully who constantly ridiculed and belittled me.

“My father reviled me for my lack of intelligence and he criticised my appearance, my friends and my lifestyle.

“Virtually everything I did was never good enough for him. He maintained that I was useless and a disappointment to him, and indeed, I did feel worthless in his presence.

My mother died from cancer in 2011 and I had promised her, prior to her death, that I would always care for my mentally challenged twin sister.

“My father and I disagreed over his treatment of my sister – he used to sedate her to keep her tractable and I took issue with his drugging her to control her.

“My father refused to consider any alternative forms of treatment for her condition. I also discovered after my mother’s death that my father had engaged in an extra-marital relationship during her illness.

“I perceived his infidelity as a betrayal of my mother when she was at her most vulnerable and when I confronted him about this he was unrepentant.

“My father owned a used-car dealership. I assisted him in the running of it. I never earned a salary – my father just covered my monthly expenses. Recently, my father’s business has been running at a loss.

“This was exacerbated by my father frivolously spending income generated from the business instead of ploughing the profits back into the business.

“When I remonstrated with him, he told me, in no uncertain terms, not to tell him how to run his business.

“As a result of my issues with my father, I had previously tried to run away from home but my father found me and forced me to return.

“Having been financially dependent on my father, I had no alternative but to do as he ordered.

“Our most recent disagreement arose over my marriage, through religious rites, to a non-Muslim girl, which disgusted my father. My father did not allow me to live with my wife, who continued to live with her family because of my father’s stubbornness.

“During January my father and I had a heated argument over his refusal to accept my wife.

“Following the argument over my father’s refusal to accept my wife, our maid, Emily, seeing that I was upset, asked me what the problem was.

“Emily was privy to my previous fights with my father and she was sympathetic to my plight.

“I told Emily it would be better if I did not have a father. She claimed to know how to make it happen and when I asked for clarity, she said that she knew someone who would kill my father.

“I thought about what Emily said and I found the thought of being in control of my own life compelling enough to agree with her proposal. I asked to meet that person and eventually arrangements were made for me to meet Joshua Nxumalo in January this year. I met Nxumalo in the vicinity of Selgro Centre in Pietermaritzburg CBD.

“Nxumalo and I discussed killing my father and we eventually agreed he would kill my father in exchange for payment of R30 000, which I was to pay in instalments. On the day of my father’s murder, I met Nxumalo and Mtshali in town.

“Nxumalo introduced Mtshali to me as his friend and informed me Mtshali would help him kill my father. We then parted company.

“Later that same day I received a message to immediately go home. On my arrival I found my father had been stabbed and killed as a result of his throat being slit.

“I knew that Nxumalo and Mtshali had killed my father as per our agreement. A few days later Emily informed me Nxumalo needed money.

“I gave her R10 000 in cash to give to Nxumalo. I was wracked with guilt and after agonising over my actions I owned up to my involvement in my father’s murder to members of my family.

“I then handed myself over to the police and assisted them in arresting my co-perpetrators.”

Zandisile Mtshali’s plea: In his plea, Mtshali corroborated that he had met with Mohideen through Nxumalo, who had informed him that he knew an “Indian male” who would pay to have his father kiled. As Mtshali was in need of money, he agreed to assist Nxumalo in the murder.

On the day of the murder, Mtshali said he and Nxumalo made their way to the Mohideen’s home and entered the house, where they tied up the domestic worker and waited for Mohideen sr to arrive.

“I later learned the maid was Nxumalo’s girlfriend and was privy to the murder plan,” Mtshali said.

He explained that he had been armed with a hammer and Nxumalo with a knife.

When Mohideen sr arrived at his house, they pounced on him.

Mtshali said Mohideen sr had drawn a knife and tried to stab Nxumalo, but they both managed to overpower him.”I assaulted him with the hammer and the hammer broke when I hit him. Nxumalo stabbed him,” Mtshali said.

The gardener, having been alerted to what had happened, raised the alarm. Mtshali said he and Nxumalo fled the scene. Days later, Nxumalo told him Mohideen jr had paid him R5 000. He gave half of this amount to Mtshali.

Daily News

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