Published date
7 October 2004
References
Oellermann I.(2004) Fourteen-year-old girl found guilty of murder fromIOL News(8 October 2004) [online] Available at: www.iol.co.za [Accessed on 19 September 2013]| News 24 Archives Girl, 14, guilty of murder [online] Available at: www.news24.com [Accessed on 19 September 2013]
The South African Broadcasting Cooperation (SABC) reported that a fourteen year old girl has been found guilty in the Pietermaritzburg High Court of murdering Radha Govender, a Pietermaritzburg socialite, two years ago. The girl was only 12 years old when she carried out the murder. She was also found guilty on charges of theft. After drugging her victim, she approached two men, Sipho Hadebe and Vusi Tshabalala, and asked them to kill her. They were given some items such as clothes, jewelry, a video machine and a decoder she had stolen from the house as their payments.
During the trial, the girl tried to implicate a family acquaintance and claimed that he had orchestrated the murder, but her claims proved unfounded. She became the youngest girl ever to be convicted of murder in SA. Her name was concealed because she was a minor. Hadebe and Tshabalala, who confessed to their role in the murder, were also sent to jail. Each of the two men is currently serving a 25 prison year sentence.