Again the single witness and gang-related violence

- S v Abdullah (Case no 134/21) [2022] ZASCA 33 (31 March 2022) (SCA)

Relevant and applicable legislation
Section 208 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 ("the CPA") provides as follows:

"208. Conviction may follow on evidence of single witness

An accused may be convicted of any offence on the single evidence of any competent witness."

Section 51 read together with Part I of Schedule 2 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997 (hereinafter referred to as the "Minimum Sentences Act"). According to this section 51(1), an accused person convicted of an offence referred to in Part I of Schedule 2 shall be sentenced to incarceration for life. In respect of the offence of murder, incarceration for life shall be imposed when –

(a) the murder was planned or premeditated; or

(b) the murder was committed by a person, group of persons or syndicate acting in the execution or furtherance of a common purpose or conspiracy.

Section 10(3) of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998 (POCA) provides as follows:

"(3) If a court, after having convicted an accused of any offence, other than an offence contemplated in this Chapter [4], finds that the accused was a member of a criminal gang at the time of the commission of the offence, such finding shall be regarded as an aggravating circumstance for sentencing purposes."

(Emphasis added by Pollex.)

Background
On 15 September 2020, the High Court in Cape Town ("the trial court") convicted Mr Waylan Abdullah, the accused, together with a co-accused, of one count of murder; robbery with aggravating circumstances; possession of an unlicensed firearm; and unlawful possession of ammunition. He was sentenced to an effective term of 29 years' incarceration.

Not satisfied with this outcome, the accused appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal ("the SCA") against his conviction. The co-accused apparently did not appeal. The central issue on appeal was the identification of the accused as one of the persons who shot and killed the late Mr Gregory Carelse.

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[This is an extract of a court case published in Pollex in Servamus: March 2023. If you are interested in reading the rest of the discussion, send an e-mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or a WhatsApp or SMS message to: 078 712 1745 to find out what you need to do to acquire the article. Ed.]

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