Cape Town - The Western Cape High Court has sentenced Sinaye Mposelwa, 27, to an effective 25 years’ imprisonment for the June 2019 murder of Ukrainian national Ivan Ivanov, who was robbed and killed while hiking on the East Fort hiking trail on Chapman’s Peak.
Ivanov, 44, was found to have died from multiple stab wounds to his head, chest and back.
Mposelwa was also convicted of robbery with aggravating circumstances after he and his two alleged accomplices, Matthew Giyo and Franklin Isaacs, also robbed Ivanov of his belongings.
Mposelwa confessed to killing Ivanov and pleaded guilty last month, which led to his trial being separated from that of his co-accused Giyo and Isaacs, who pleaded not guilty. Giyo and Isaacs will appear in court on August 14.
In his judgment, Judge Robert Henney described the accused’s actions as heinous, callous, and abhorrent but deviated from the prescribed minimum sentences.
Mposelwa was sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for the murder, and 10 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances. The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
During the trial the court heard that Mposelwa, Giyo and Isaacs went to the hiking trail to rob hikers.
They hid behind bushes armed with knives, which were to be used on any victim who resisted the attempt to rob them.
When Ivanvov came along he did not co-operate, and they stabbed him 11 times in the chest and back.
The three ran away, but Mposelwa was stopped by two men who handed him to the police.
He had bloodied clothes, was found in possession of Ivanov’s belongings, was linked to the crime by DNA and was also positively identified during an identity parade as the person stopped and arrested that day.
The National Prosecuting Authority said Ivanov had been a specialist in agriculture and fertilisation and had visited South Africa to impart his skills to employees of the Swiss company he worked for, which had branches in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
In mitigation of sentence, Mposelwa’s lawyer argued that his client had been in prison for four years and had been influenced by his co-accused to commit the crimes.
He argued that Mposelwa had taken the court into his confidence by pleading guilty and had voluntarily provided all the evidence used in the case.