For over a year, their hearts have been longing for closure. Ever since losing their child and grandchild in March 2022, the Makhura family has been inconsolable.
As they walked through the doors of the Gauteng North High court on Monday, 23 October, the hope that that justice would finally prevail was etched on their faces.
But when they heard the sentence, one could tell that their hearts were sinking.
Since the beginning of the court case, the parents of Itumeleng and grandparents of Tshepang have been supported by their siblings and surviving children, Bonolo and Besta Makhura.
On the far end of the court room, the mother and sister of Kenneth Debeila also waited in anticipation of the sentencing.
All hell broke loose though when Besta jumped over a few benches to charge at Kenneth after he was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences plus 15 years.
Besta threatened to kill Kenneth as he threw a few punches before he was stopped by police officers.
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Outside the court when he was calmer, Besta unapologetically explained his actions.
“I feel like the justice system has failed us because with the sentences running concurrently, it simply means that that this person will be back outside after 25 years, and we can’t live like that. Kenny’s young, he’s 32 years old which means he could be out of jail in his 50s. This is very unfair to us as a family because we lost the lives [of our loved ones]. This person is going to enjoy his rights in jail, they’re going to go to school while we suffer. It seems that the justice system is not determined to fight for the rights of women, women and children are being killed and they don’t even care.
“We are not satisfied as a family.”
The 31-year-old man shared that it would’ve been better if the sentence was a clear 60 or 70 years and not concurrent life imprisonment sentences.
“Tshepang was raped by two people, today in court, this was not spoken about so it’s very painful to be robbed of justice in broad daylight. The DNAs found on Tshepang’s body were of multiple people which means there might be more than two people who raped Tshepang.”
During his trial, Kenneth pleaded guilty to all charges including raping and murdering his own 11-year-old daughter.
“I’m not apologetic about what I did in court. In fact, I could go to jail and kill himself myself because he brought pain to our family. You can imagine, now my mother has lost her memory, and he (Kenneth) has left his four-year-old son alone, who must take care of him? Now my mother has high blood pressure as well, if she dies, the responsibility is going to be on me. This means I would’ve failed my family.”
Read More | Kenneth Debeila handed double life sentence for murder of girlfriend and 11-year-old daughter
Just before Judge Munzhelele could hand the sentence down though, the state prosecutor advocate Thembi Nyakama called Itumeleng’s mother, Florah Makhura to the stand.
“I can’t believe that the accused did all this. I took him as my own son. The issue started in February when Itumeleng found a job for Kenneth. On one Thursday, Kenneth came back and told Itumeleng that he would not be going back to the job because it was tough,” she said.
Florah added that Itumeleng had been the only one supporting their two children, Tshepang and Tshiamo. She then gave Kenneth an ultimatum by saying that he is no longer welcome at the Makhura home until he finds a job.
“Ever since, I have memory loss and have been suffering from high blood pressure. When we were burying them, Tshiamo (Kenneth and Itumeleng’s remaining son) couldn’t sleep, he was crying non-stop. Now he is not coping, he beats other children when playing at creche,” the distraught grandmother cried.
As Florah fought back her tears, her sister also started crying in the gallery.
