No mercy for Jub Jub

THE promise of a trust fund for his victims failed to earn hip-hop artist Molemo "Jub Jub" Maarohanye any leniency - he will spend 25 years behind bars.

Yesterday - two years after killing four pupils and seriously injuring two others in a drag race - the embattled musician had his day of reckoning.

Although Maarohanye and his co-accused, Themba Tshabalala, escaped life imprisonment as had been requested by the state, Magistrate Brian Nemavhidi had harsh words for the pair.

"Those children left their homes to go to school in hope of a better future but you took that away from them. They only made their way home in coffins," he said.

Prince Mohube, Mlungisi Cwayi, Andile Mthombeni, and Phomello Masemola died, and Frank Mlambo and Fumani Mushwana were left with permanent brain damage when Maarohanye and Tshabalala drove into them with their Mini Coopers along Mdlalose Drive, Protea, Soweto on March 8 2010.

Nemavhidi said : "Your conduct shows you have no regard to the rules of the road ... No one can sympathise with you because you brought it on yourself ."

He said although they did not intend to kill and injure the victims, the two should have known better than to race on a road full of pupils .

Maarohanye had pleaded not guilty and called himself a "victim", blaming Tshabalala for "placing his life in danger".

Yesterday, however, Maarohanye made an indirect peace offering to the victims' families.

A strained-looking Maarohanye said he would pay for the tombstones of the deceased, set up a trust fund for the victims and produce a song about the incident if given the opportunity to escape a prison sentence.

But it would be cold comfort for the victims and their families, said Nemavhidi. "Why did the trial have to go on for two years for people to change their minds about assisting the families and setting up trust funds for the victims?"

When Nemavhidi sentenced the pair, Maarohanye's father, Sydney, bowed his head in despair.

Nemavhidi said his judgment was not only influenced by the seriousness of the crimes, but also by the lack of remorse shown by the two over the course of the trial.

In October, Maarohanye and Tshabalala were convicted on four counts of murder, two of attempted murder and driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol .

In aggravation of sentence, prosecutor Raymond Mathenjwa said the pair were not remorseful because they did not admit their guilt in court .

"Even to this day, the two do not want to take responsibility for what happened that day," Mathenjwa told the court.

Maarohanye's lawyer, Rudi Krause, said his client had the potential of being an influential ambassador against drug abuse.

Maarohanye had previously told the court he didn't know what drugs looked like.

Psychiatrist Professor Merryll Vorster said that when she assessed Maarohanye on November 26, he admitted to the occasional use of ecstasy.

The two's drivers' licences were revoked.

Families of the victims said they felt cheated by the sentences. They complained that "25 years was nothing".