Justice for Pinetown family five years after dad was killed

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Durban - Two men convicted of the murder of a Pinetown father as well as one of their accomplices were each handed two life sentences by the Durban High Court. Nathi Sithole and Sabelo Patrick Zondi were also sentenced to 15 years each for robbery. In 2015, the duo and three accomplices entered Thaslem Iqbal’s home in Caversham Glen, Pinetown. They held Iqbal, her two daughters and her brother Faisal Iqbal at gunpoint. They forced the family to lie on the floor while they ransacked the home. As the men were leaving with the family’s TV, cellphones, a laptop and jewellery, Faisal - who was armed - shot at the suspects. One of them died at the scene. The other suspects returned fire and hit Faisal in the chest and abdomen. He later died in hospital.

Sithole and Zondi were arrested in 2016 and were each charged with two counts of murder and one of robbery with aggravating circumstances.

One of the murder counts relates to the death of their accomplice.

During the trial, senior State advocate Kelvin Singh argued that the men acted in common purpose.

Another suspect, Ivan Mbuso Dube - who turned State witness - was killed on the day he was expected to testify.

The remaining accomplice was killed in a shootout with police.

Eighteen months after the murder, Faisal's sister Thaslem told the Daily News that she had recalled a conversation with her brother.

She said she had asked him if he was willing to take a bullet for a person, and he had said he would - not knowing that he would be killed in a shoot-out protecting his family.

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