Cop killers get 90 years
|Published
VICTIM: State witness Gregory ‘Kallie’ Carelse
Two skollies who killed a Law Enforcement officer will mang for a collective 90 years.
On Tuesday the two members of The Firm gang were sentenced in the Western Cape High Court on five charges, including the murder of the officer who was a State witness.
Last month, Ashwin Willemse and Waylin Abdullah were convicted on two counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, illegal possession of firearms and the illegal possession of ammunition.
Prosecutor advocate Lenro Badenhorst proved the State’s case beyond reasonable doubt in that the accused shot and killed Gregory Carelse, a Law Enforcement officer employed by the City of Cape Town’s community safety development department and a police reservist at Bishop Lavis Police Station.
According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila, the dedicated crime-fighter witnessed a drive-by shooting which took place in Forel Street in Valhalla Park on 17 October 2017.
A year later, as the triple-murder trial was set to start at the High Court, Carelse was shot dead on the corner of Barracuda Street and Kasteelberg Road in Bishop Lavis.
On 18 October 2018, Carelse, told his son he was leaving their home to respond to a shooting in the community. He took his pistol with him.
Minutes later, when Carelse’s daughter left for work, his son heard shots and ran out to see whether his sister was safe.
However, he witnessed his father’s murder as Willemse and Abdullah shot him 16 times.
Carelse’s firearm was also stolen.
Ntabazalila said Willemse was sentenced to 50 years behind bars - 22 years’ imprisonment for murder, 12 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances, 10 years for the illegal possession of a firearm and six years for the illegal possession of ammunition.
The court ordered some of his sentences to run concurrently, meaning Willemse will serve an effective 36 years in prison.
Abdullah was sentenced to 40 years in the tronk - 18 years for murder, 10 for robbery with aggravating circumstances, eight years for the illegal possession of a firearm and four years for the illegal possession of ammunition.
The court ordered some of Abdullah’s sentences to run concurrently, meaning he will serve an effective 29 years in prison.
African News Agency (ANA)