The High Court in Pretoria on Thursday dismissed applications to appeal by the three Zimbabweans convicted and sentenced for the murder of former world heavyweight boxing champion Corrie Sanders.
Judge Ferdi Preller said the circumstances in the case against Paida Fish, Chris Moyo and Samuel Mabena, all in their 20s, did not warrant a further hearing on appeal.
All three applied for leave to appeal against their convictions, claiming the court should have accepted their evidence that they were elsewhere that night and had nothing to do with the robbery.
Moyo and Mabena also wanted to appeal against their sentences of 30 years effective imprisonment.
Naas de Jager, for Fish, argued that the evidence about his client's arrest and the robbed items found in his possession had not been credible.
Leana Augustyn, for Moyo, argued that the court had erred in finding that Moyo's girlfriend did not support his claim that he had been at home that fateful night.
She argued that Moyo's evidence that he had bought one of the robbed cellphones from one of his fellow accused was reasonably possibly true.
Charles Mabaso, for Mabena, attacked the veracity of the identity parade at which his client was identified as one of the robbers.
Preller on Wednesday sentenced the three to 18 years imprisonment for murdering Sanders.
They were sentenced to 19 years imprisonment for armed robbery and a further six years for the possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
Preller ordered that some of the sentences run concurrently, giving an effective sentence of 30 years imprisonment for the three men, who are all first offenders.
The 46-year-old Sanders was shot during an armed robbery at the Thatch Haven Country Lodge outside Brits while attending his nephew's 21st birthday party on September 22, 2012.
He died the next day in the Kalafong hospital.
Sanders was talking to his daughter Marinique and a cousin near the entrance to the boma when three armed men stormed in and started shooting.
He was shot when he moved in front of his daughter to protect her.
He was already bleeding from wounds to his arm and stomach when he pulled her to the ground and told her to pretend that she was dead.
The robbers ordered guests to lie down and demanded their handbags, cellphones and cash.
Two of the guests later identified Fish and Moyo at a police identity parade as two of the robbers.
The Zimbabweans were arrested a few days later at the Oukasie informal settlement near Brits after a tip-off. All were found in possession of some of the robbed items.
Preller found that the three had decided to "go big" by attacking a large group of people.
He said they had carefully planned the robbery and carried it out with military precision.
However, he found that Sanders had been shot in the course of a random shooting, and that his murder had not been deliberate, although the accused had foreseen his death.
No appeal for Corrie Sanders's killers
The High Court in Pretoria on Thursday dismissed applications to appeal by the three Zimbabweans convicted and sentenced for the murder of former world heavyweight boxing champion Corrie Sanders.
Judge Ferdi Preller said the circumstances in the case against Paida Fish, Chris Moyo and Samuel Mabena, all in their 20s, did not warrant a further hearing on appeal.
All three applied for leave to appeal against their convictions, claiming the court should have accepted their evidence that they were elsewhere that night and had nothing to do with the robbery.
Moyo and Mabena also wanted to appeal against their sentences of 30 years effective imprisonment.
Naas de Jager, for Fish, argued that the evidence about his client's arrest and the robbed items found in his possession had not been credible.
Leana Augustyn, for Moyo, argued that the court had erred in finding that Moyo's girlfriend did not support his claim that he had been at home that fateful night.
She argued that Moyo's evidence that he had bought one of the robbed cellphones from one of his fellow accused was reasonably possibly true.
Charles Mabaso, for Mabena, attacked the veracity of the identity parade at which his client was identified as one of the robbers.
Preller on Wednesday sentenced the three to 18 years imprisonment for murdering Sanders.
They were sentenced to 19 years imprisonment for armed robbery and a further six years for the possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
Preller ordered that some of the sentences run concurrently, giving an effective sentence of 30 years imprisonment for the three men, who are all first offenders.
The 46-year-old Sanders was shot during an armed robbery at the Thatch Haven Country Lodge outside Brits while attending his nephew's 21st birthday party on September 22, 2012.
He died the next day in the Kalafong hospital.
Sanders was talking to his daughter Marinique and a cousin near the entrance to the boma when three armed men stormed in and started shooting.
He was shot when he moved in front of his daughter to protect her.
He was already bleeding from wounds to his arm and stomach when he pulled her to the ground and told her to pretend that she was dead.
The robbers ordered guests to lie down and demanded their handbags, cellphones and cash.
Two of the guests later identified Fish and Moyo at a police identity parade as two of the robbers.
The Zimbabweans were arrested a few days later at the Oukasie informal settlement near Brits after a tip-off. All were found in possession of some of the robbed items.
Preller found that the three had decided to "go big" by attacking a large group of people.
He said they had carefully planned the robbery and carried it out with military precision.
However, he found that Sanders had been shot in the course of a random shooting, and that his murder had not been deliberate, although the accused had foreseen his death.
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