Taking a life for R175 earns criminal 25 years in prison

A man who murdered Pietermaritzburg pensioner Rajendra Chetty, apparently only for his cellphone which he sold for R350, has been sentenced to an effective 25 years behind bars.

“You consciously decided to commit the crime ... you will now spend the greatest part of your life as an outcast, separated from society. You will have a long time to think about that,” Pietermaritzburg high court judge Rob Mossop told Phakamani Ngcobo, 34, in passing sentence.

Mossop noted Ngcobo had actually only got R175 from the sale of the phone because he shared the spoils with his accomplice, a man who previously worked for 72-year-old Chetty.

The pair broke into Chetty’s home in December 2023. Police reports at the time said he was stabbed repeatedly.

Ngcobo was arrested after he sold the phone they stole from Chetty for R350. The buyer gave it to his girlfriend, who then used Chetty’s WhatsApp application. That ultimately led the police to Ngcobo.

He immediately confessed to the crime then pleaded guilty.

This, Mossop said, usually only happened in open and shut cases and was not always a sign of true remorse.

But in this matter, it was to Ngcobo’s credit.

He said there were no eyewitnesses to the crime because Chetty lived alone. Relatives and neighbours who responded to his screams only saw two men fleeing, but could not identify them.

“The state would have had great difficulty in prosecuting anyone for the crime. Your undoing, ironically, was the only thing you took and then sold.

“This does not appear to me to be an open and shut case. That this must be so is demonstrated by the fact that your associate who allegedly committed this crime with you, and who used to work for (Chetty), was also arrested but refused to say anything and was, accordingly, freed from police custody because there was no evidence linking him to the crime.”

The message must go out that it is not acceptable, it never has been and never will be

—  Judge Rob Mossop

He said Ngcobo’s confession was, possibly, a sign of his conscience at work, as was his offer to assist the state in pursuing a case against his accomplice.

“I am inclined to accept that your plea and general conduct since your arrest is a sign of true contrition on your part,” Mossop said.

However, that was not the only consideration in sentencing proceedings.

Turning to his criminal record, the judge said it was “disgraceful” and showed he had a propensity for housebreaking since 2011 and had been convicted five times. The longest sentence of direct imprisonment was 18 months. 

On the crime itself, Mossop said this too was not to his credit.

Chetty was 72-years old when he met his untimely and savage death.

“He was stabbed in the chest and his back five times. He did not succumb meekly. He tried to protect himself and there were defensive wounds observed by the forensic pathologist.”

Chetty’s adult children had deposed to victim impact statements “which did not make for easy reading”.

His son, Kevin Chetty, who lived in the same road, said he was angry and he did not understand why his father was killed for something as trivial as a cellphone.

His daughter, Anneleen Pillay, lamented he would not see his grandchildren grow up.

She said, however, that she was not angry at Ngcobo, “because if she shows anger that would mean that she feels something for you, whereas she does not feel anything for you at all”.

“People expect serious crime to be dealt with seriously by the courts. Ours is a very violent society. Young men like yourself do not think twice about resorting to criminal conduct that very often ends with a violent act. It appears that taking a life for R175 (the half share of R350) is apparently acceptable to you.

“The message must go out that it is not acceptable, it never has been and never will be,” Mossop said.

He was, however, prepared to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment on the basis of Ngcobo’s guilty plea.

“You will now spend a very long period of time behind bars. Whatever hopes or aspirations that you may have had will never be realised,” he told Ngcobo.