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Lesley Wyngaard is one of many mothers who have lost their children to gang violence. (Photo by Aphiwe Ngalo)
While The Terrible Josters frontman Horatio ‘Voudie’ Solomon did not directly commit the crimes of murder and attempted murder, he was sentenced to life in prison in the Western Cape Superior Court.
Horatio “Voudie” Solomon and leading figures in the The Terrible Josters gang, Judge Owen Rogers said, were jointly responsible for those who ultimately pulled the trigger on the gun that killed Vernon Botes in 2017 in Delft.
The harsh sentences handed down on Monday, October 12, on these and other charges are a serious blow to the 10,000-person Terrible Josters, which Solomon controlled in Delft, Wesbank, Elsies River and Kleinmond.
Rogers found that, where high-level figures were responsible along with those who carried out the shootings, their guilt is at least as great as that of the shooters themselves.
Rogers imposed life sentences on Solomon, his second-in-command, Ismail Ockerts, and gang member Lucian Consul for the murder of Botes. Another defendant, Keenen Kruger, received a double life sentence for the murder of Botes and another victim, George Stevens.
Apart from the murder conviction, Solomon and Ockerts were also found guilty of the attempted murder of Herbert du Plooy.
Solomon also received three years under the Prevention of Organized Crime Act (POCA), nine years for attempted murder, and nine years for narcotics trafficking.
Co-defendant Ockerts was also sentenced to three years under the POCA, eight years for attempted murder and 12 years for drug trafficking.
Kruger also received three years under the POCA, 14 years for attempted murder and five years, respectively, for illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The sentences are running concurrently, meaning Solomom, Ockerts, Consul and Kruger will serve life sentences.
Five other members were acquitted during a sentence handed down by Rogers on September 28 and 29.
They continued to protest their innocence. As far as I know, they still deny belonging to the Terrible Josters. The absence of remorse is not an aggravating factor, although its presence, if genuine, could have been a mitigating factor.
Rogers discovered Monday that Botes’ murder and Du Plooy’s attempted murder had been planned and premeditated, and that they had been committed by two or more people acting with a common purpose.
Neither Solomon nor Ockerts had expressed any remorse for their actions.
“They continued to protest their innocence. As far as I know, they still deny belonging to the Terrible Josters. The absence of remorse is not an aggravating factor, although its presence, if genuine, could have been a mitigating factor, ”said Rogers.
The men knew that what they were doing was a crime and they must be held accountable.
“Society in general and the law-abiding members of their own community would be very disappointed if the court did not mark their misdeeds with the seriousness they deserve,” said Rogers.
Solomon and Ockerts’ denial that they had anything to do with The Terrible Josters came despite explosive evidence from a former witness protection gang member who had previously testified.
During the trial, the witness repeatedly told the court that “Voudie”, or Solomon, was the leader of the gang, which consisted of 10,000 members.
Solomon’s uncle, Ernie “Lastig” Solomon, was also implicated by the witness.
Testifying in Western Cape Superior Court in 2019, the state witness said that he had met all of the gang’s leaders at Lastig’s birthday celebration in Hawston.
At that meeting, Lastig had spoken with different leaders who had given him their opinion.
During the trial, evidence was heard that The Terrible Josters’ core business is drug trafficking. A state witness revealed how the turf wars had led to numerous shootings that claimed the lives of rival gang members and innocent people.
“Territory wars are a major source of violent gang conflict, in which innocent bystanders are not infrequently killed or injured,” said Rogers.
Although Rogers discovered that Solomon and Ockert did not directly commit murder or attempted murder, this did not lessen their guilt.
The conclusion of the Solomon trial now paves the way for the Western Cape Superior Court to begin the trial of alleged leader of the Terrible Josters gang, Elton Lenting, 41, aka Koffi, and 19 other gang members.
This second group faces more than 100 charges, ranging from POCA contravention, murder, attempted murder, drug possession and drug trafficking, bribery, damage to property and sale of drugs to school children.
During their appearance in November 2019, at the same time Solomon’s trial was heard, Lenting and co-defendant Raymond Arendse, aka Muis, 32, were attacked by fellow gang members. Both suffered head injuries.
The court ruled that, for security reasons, the two cases could not be held in the Western Cape Superior Court at the same time. MC
