Pretoria - Judge Hennie De Vos has rejected Pretoria serial killer Wellington Kachidza's assertions that he could be rehabilitated as "witchcraft" and a lack of a father figure were behind his brutal killing and kidnapping spree across the city.
Kachidza took the stand in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria today pleading for leniency from the courts for multiple counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping, extortion, rape, and contravention of the immigration act.
As his first order of business, he offered an apology to the victims' families and the community at large as he insisted he never meant to commit the crimes he did.
According to the Zimbabwean national, in his home country, he worked as a security officer for Fidelity and was survived by his disabled mother after his father died when he was just seven years old.
He claimed he had three children by three wives and only married one of them.
Kachidza said he came to South Africa in 2014 by taxi with another group of immigrants and paid R500, upon arrival he said he still required R1 500 to get the necessary documentation.
Once he managed to scrape the amount together he alleged he moved in with an older woman from Malawi and they stayed together in Soshanguve.
He said the sexual relationship continued up until the lady fell pregnant and he decided to end the relationship.
According to Kachidza his lover then took his t-shirt and claimed she had bewitched him to make sure that he struggled throughout his life.
In pleading for a lesser sentence, he requested the court to take into consideration that he was a first offender, that he lacked a father figure growing up, that he had shown remorse by explaining and apologising to the families of the victims, and how he pleaded guilty to the charges leveled against him.
He also requested the courts to take into consideration the 26 months he had already spent incarcerated for the duration of the trial.
The state however pleaded with the courts to punish Kachidza to the full might of the law as he had planned his attacks and committed them in a gruesome manner by bludgeoning his victims to death.
The state prosecutor also indicated that the courts should not offer any leniency as a total of 10 violent offences had been committed by Kachidza, save for the contravention of the immigration act.
Not to mention how he not only attacked his victims but went on further to traumatise the families in his attempts to extort more money from them before ultimately killing his victims.
In delivering his judgment De Vos handed Kachidza life imprisonment for all eight counts of murder, 15 years each for eight counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and 10 years each for three counts of rape.
He also received 5 years each for eight counts of kidnapping, another 5 years for eight counts of extortion, and two years for the contravention of the immigration act.
As an addition, De Vos declared Kachidza was unfit to be in possession of a firearm.
Judge De Vos said he believed that Kachidza had not shown any real remorse for his actions and that his guilty plea did not help for much given the strong case the state had against him.
"He is not welcome in South Africa as he came here unlawfully and put the lives of our people in jeopardy. He killed us and raped our women and enjoyed the hospitality of our country but his intention was to commit crimes and not to find work."
"It is the responsibility of this court not only to South Africans but to the world to make sure citizens are protected against people like him hence there should be no hesitation from ensuring that the harshest sentence should be imposed," De Vos added.
Pretoria News