Uwe Gemballa, founder of Gemballa Automobiletechnik, was killed in 2010 after landing in South Africa.
Image: Supplied
Two of the three men who killed German luxury car dealer and Czech fugitive Radovan Krejčíř’s associate, Uwe Gemballa, more than a decade ago lost in their attempt to be freed.
Thabo Mohapi and Garlond Holworthy were convicted for the murder of Gemballa but still claim their innocence.
In 2013, Mohapi and Holworthy killed Gemballa after intercepting him at OR Tambo International Airport.
Their co-accused Thabiso Mpye, who had entered into a plea agreement with the State, admitted to the crime and was sentenced before the trial started.
They were charged with kidnapping, murder and theft. In November 2015, Mohapi and Holworthy were convicted of all charges against them and sentenced to an effective 25 years direct imprisonment.
The sentence imposed in respect of the convictions having been ordered to be served concurrently in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act.
The duo was sentenced to five years for kidnapping, 25 years for murder imprisonment; and two years for theft.
The high court ordered that 10 years of the 25 years imprisonment imposed in respect of Mohapi would be served concurrently with earlier sentences imposed on him in June 2012 and November 2013.
In their appeal at the high court, they said the high court a quo erred in relying on inadmissible evidence of their identification on the cameras at OR Tambo airport.
Gemballa arrived in the country in February 2010 and his body was found buried in Wesfort cemetery in Atteridgeville, Tshwane in September that year.
In court, his death was declared undetermined and his killers closed their cases and did not testify.
The court found that the State proved that the cell phone number used during the commission of the crime belonged to Mohapi and that he used it
Marius Bouwer have a word with the three accused Kagiso Ledwaba, Thabo Mohapi and Garland Holworthy who appeared before the Palmridge Magistrate Court on August 6, 2013, facing charges of kidnapping, theft and murder of Uwe Gemballa.
Image: Tiro Ramatlhatse / Independent Newspapers Archives
In addition, Mohapi was at OR Tambo International Airport while talking to his co-accused.
According to the court, Mohapi, was in Edenvale in the vicinity of the house where Gemballa was held and thereafter returned to Midrand, while talking to one of his co-accused.
The cell phone records placed them within the terminal building of OR Tambo International Airport that day. It was established that Holworthy was at OR Tambo International Airport on the night that Gemballa was kidnapped.
Holworthy was in Edenvale in the vicinity of the house where Gemballa was held and thereafter returned to Midrand, while talking to Mohapi.
“The court a quo correctly found that no other inference could be drawn but that the appellants kidnapped Gemballa, took him to Edenvale, killed him and buried him in a shallow grave.
"In light of the strong prima facie case against the appellants (Mohapi and Holworthy) and in the absence of any version to gainsay the State’s case, the court a quo correctly found that the case of the appellants was not reasonably possibly true and correctly found them guilty as charged,” the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg ruled last week.
loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za