Legal history will be made in the Pietermaritzburg High Court next month when the country’s youngest murder accused is tried.

The 10-day trial, a sequel to the September 2002 killing of socialite Radha Govender, 59, starts on August 10. The 13-year-old girl will be represented by a powerful defence team comprising five legal personalities.

They are advocate Kobus Booysens SC, a former acting judge, Kat Stillwell, head of the University of KwaZulu-Natal Law Clinic in Pietermaritzburg, Anne Skelton, a lecturer at the Child Care Unit at the University of Pretoria, retired attorney Kader Hassim and attorney Mahendra Ori from Pietermaritzburg.

‘If she is convicted, it is unlikely she will be sent to jail’
The legal bill will be paid by the Foundation For Human Rights.

Two prisoners, Vusimuzi James Tshabalala, 28, of Underberg, and Sipho Elliot Hadebe, 26, of Thornville, are serving life sentences for killing Govender. They told the court the girl had hired them to end Govender’s life.

Durban law fundi Professor Karthy Govender, said this was an unusual trial. The accused had been just 11 years old when she was charged.

Govender, a law lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a commissioner on the South African Human Rights Commission, said the court would have to establish whether the girl had the mental capacity to commit such a crime and whether she had conspired with the prisoners serving life sentences.

“Without pre-empting the court’s decision, if she is convicted, it is unlikely she will be sent to jail, because the constitution makes it clear convicted juvenile offenders must be kept away from adult prisoners and in separate facilities. However, when a convicted juvenile turns 18, he or she will be transferred to a prison to serve the remainder of the sentence,” he said.

This article was originally published on page 5 of The Post on July 28, 2004

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>