Molemo ‘Jub Jub’ Maarohanye and Themba Tshabalala (partly obscured). Picture: SUNDAY TIMES
Hip-hop star and Themba Tshabalala re-sentenced after new convictions of culpable homicide
MURDER and attempted murder convictions against Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye and Themba Tshabalala were overturned by the High Court in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Hip-hop musician Maarohanye and Tshabalala were each convicted in October 2012 on four counts of murder, two of attempted murder and using drugs, driving under the influence of drugs and racing on a public road after they crashed into a group of schoolboys in Protea, Soweto, on March 8 2010. The two were drag-racing in their Mini Coopers when the accident happened.
The murder convictions were replaced with convictions of culpable homicide and the 20-year sentences for murder were replaced by prison terms of eight years, with two of those suspended. They will be given credit for time already served.
In December 2012, Magistrate Brian Nemavhidi sentenced Maarohanyye and Tshabalala each to 27 years in prison in total in the Protea Magistrate’s Court in Soweto. It meant an effective 25 years in prison as some sentences would run concurrently.
“Those kids left home in the morning to go to school to better their lives and the lives of their families. As they were upstanding citizens, they did not go to town. They decided to go straight home. They did not arrive home that day,” Mr Nemavhidi told the accused men.
Maarohanye and Tshbalala brought an appeal against their convictions and sentences in the Johannesburg High Court earlier this year.
Sapa
Menzi 