The two men accused of raping and bludgeoning to death Heinz Park teen Janika Mello have been found guilty at the Western Cape High Court.
After months of hearings, the murder accused Leeroy Rose and Allester Abraham were found guilty on two counts of rape and one of murder.
Janika, who was a Grade 6 pupil at Northwood Primary School in Woodlands, went to a karaoke at Portlands High School to support a local soccer club on 31 August in 2019.
The teen was later dropped off by a taxi close to her home and her half-naked body was found in her backyard the following morning.
According to crime-scene photographs, cops found multiple used condoms on the scene while the postmortem report indicates that she had multiple vaginal and anal injuries.
During the trial, Rose turned on his co-accused and claimed he saw Abraham throw the rock on Janika’s head.
In his defence, Abraham claimed he was at home at the time of the murder and brought his ouma, Suzette Prins, who told the court that he arrived at home at about 2.30am the next day which is reportedly the estimated time of Janika’s death.
However, blood found on Rose’s jeans showed he was present during Janika’s murder, while medical evidence presented to the court showed that the girl was killed by two individuals.
Abraham was also charged on two counts of assault for Janika, but during the trial he pleaded guilty to one of the assault charges and was acquitted on the second charge.
The case was postponed to 27 May for sentencing proceedings to commence.
Ouma Pauline Butler says they are happy with the outcome but received mixed reactions from the accused’s family.
She tells the Daily Voice: “We are very happy with the outcome.
“After the verdict, we felt comforted by Leeroy’s mother who came to us to apologise for what her son did and she said he must go and serve his time in jail for what he done.
“But the family of Allister are very hostile, giving us vuilkyke in the community.
“At the end of the day we are the ones who lost a child. They can have visitation, but we must visit a grave and we will never hear Janika’s voice again.”
Pauline says the family is calling on the courts to hand down life sentences as they prepare to return to court.
The ouma adds: “We are happy there was justice for Janika, but nothing will bring her back. We are calling for life sentences and believe they must do the time in jail.”
