The court ruled that the guards abused their authority and violated the right to life when they attacked Willem Westhuizen.
Two Shoprite Usave security guards who took matters into their own hands with a suspected shoplifter have been sentenced to 15 years’ direct imprisonment each for murder.
Itumeleng Mogwemang, 37, and Neo Potlwane, 33 – who have been appearing in the Kimberley Regional Court – were convicted of murdering 39-year-old Willem Westhuizen in Roodepaan on 9 April 2022.
Attack follows theft accusations
On the day of the incident, Mogwemang and Potlwane confronted Westhuizen and accused him of theft.
Instead of following lawful procedures, the security officers assaulted him outside the store and dragged him into a storeroom where they continued to brutally attack him.
The pair kicked him, trampled on him, forced him between a scissor step ladder and then jumped on it.
Post-mortem and testimony nail guards
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane said post-mortem results confirmed that the cause of death was “blunt force trauma to the chest, with multiple fractured ribs”.
Senokoatsane said state prosecutor Mothelesi Katlego Thothela called four witnesses, including the pathologist, whose evidence corroborated the eyewitness accounts of the assault.
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Court rules
“The court found the testimony consistent and compelling, convicting both accused of murder…”
During sentencing, Thothela argued that the accused had abused their positions of authority, failing in their duty to protect the public.
Instead, they committed violence against a “defenceless man”.
“He stressed that the right to life, enshrined in section 11 of the Constitution, had been grossly violated,” Senokoatsane said.
“The state urged the court to impose the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.”
In its ruling, the court held that there were no substantial or compelling circumstances to deviate from the minimum sentence, therefore sending them away for 15 years each.
“The NPA welcomes the outcome, which reaffirms the principle that those entrusted with protecting the public must uphold the rule of law and will be held accountable when they abuse their powers,” Senokoatsane said.
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