THE Lenyenye Magistrates Court outside Tzaneen in Limpopo has sentenced Mark Scott-Crossley to eight years direct imprisonment for malicious damage to property and attempted murder.
This after he damaged a cellphone and tried to kill farmworker Silence Mabunda (38).
Public Prosecutor Eric Mabape said Scott-Crossley showed no remorse.
Delivering the judgment, presiding Magistrate Carol Honwane said it was the duty of the court to apply the rule of law.
"The sentence will serve as lesson and also deter other perpetrators to commit the same offence. The accused has violated the rights of the victim," she said.
Mabunda said: "I'm satisfied and happy with the court judgment on the accused. The court can finally rest the matter. He was found guilty and sentenced to jail, where he belongs. Despite knowing the truth very well, he was reluctant to admit it. So, I'm also thankful to the media, especially Daily Sun who took the lead on the article from scratch."
The same court found Scott-Crossley guilty on both counts on 4 October. This is after he pleaded not guilty for allegedly smashing Mabunda's cellphone to the ground and knocking him down with his bakkie on 16 December 2016 at about 7.30pm.
Mabunda is a worker of Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Kampersrus Dorpie west of Hoedspruit, Limpopo. During a lengthy cross-examination Mabunda, who's still on crutches after being hit by bakkie, told the court that doctors told him his leg dislocated from the incident.
He said he had just finished buying a R12 airtime voucher when his phone started ringing inside the shop. He then ran out to answer the phone. But he met Scott-Crossley, who was busy boozing along with a group of abelungu standing against their cars next to the shop.
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He said Scott-Crossley provoked him as he ripped his cellphone from his hand and smashed it on the ground, damaging its screen. Whenhe asked him why, Scott- Crossley angrily replied "ek sal jou bliksem" as he dragged him by clothes. He said the accused's friends shouted at him, asking him what he was doing and that he must stop, and it was only then that he turned away.
Mabunda said as he walked down the road, Scott-Crossley followed him with his bakkie and quickly made a U-Turn.
He said Scott-Crossley drove the car straight up to him. He tried to avoid it, but it was too late. He then knocked him down as he screamed for help. Scott-Crossley reversed the car, hitting him again and became unconscious.
He said if it were not for a local farmer who found him bleeding in a pool of blood on the roadside, he would have died. Mabunda said the farmer phoned his colleagues, who then called the police and ambulance. He was rushed to Tintswalo Hospital in Acornhoek near Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga.
Scott-Crossley handed himself to the police in Pretoria after being on the run for almost a month after knocking down Mabunda. The court, following a long postponement and lengthy bail application, granted him R30 000 bail in April 2017.
In October 2005, Scott-Crossley was sentenced to life for the murder of Nelson Chisale, who he had thrown into a lion's den after which he was mauled to death on his farm in Hoedspruit, Limpopo in 2004.
In December 2006, Scott-Crossley had to pay R4 000 as a fine or two years imprisonment for assaulting an inmate in Barberton Prison, Mpumalanga.
He was later released on a parole after serving five years in jail.
