Durban — Staff Sergeant Sandile Myisa was sentenced to 13 years direct imprisonment in the Durban Regional Court on Friday for the murder of Eugene Adams on December 15, 2018.
Myisa, 50, an SANDF member, shot Adams, 44, in Perrywinkle Road on the Bluff. Myisa had been a health and safety officer in the SANDF since 1990.
Magistrate Ncumisa Gcolotela said Myisa’s testimony before court and that of his witness were riddled with improbabilities and inconsistencies. Gcolotela said Myisa did not show the deceased mercy when he was on the ground fighting for his life, but instead shot him a second time.
She said Myisa’s intention was to see Adams “pass on”. Myisa showed no remorse and neither did he apologise to the family for his actions. Gcolotela said many people were affected by Adams’ death, especially his children.
During the trial, Adams’s son, Donnel Adams, told the court he was returning from the shopping centre with his friend when a group of boys approached them.
Donnel said they took his cellphone out of his hand and stabbed his friend in the head with a piece of broken bottle.
Donnel testified that he went home and informed his parents, who took them to the Brighton Beach police station. He told the court that the police declined to open a case. Donnel knew one of the boys in the group. He took his parents to the house where the boy lived.
Adams, his wife Mandy, Donnel and a relative had gone to Myisa’s home to inform him that his son knew who took the phone and ask if it could be returned.
According to Donnel, Myisa came outside to see what was happening and, after a brief discussion went back inside the house.
The boys who had taken his phone arrived and there was an argument in the road. Myisa returned and shot Adams in the head and the stomach.
Myisa told the court that he had acted in self-defence because Adams rushed at him with a knife. He also claimed he had fired warning shots and then shot Adams a metre away from him. This could not be proven in court and witnesses testified that Adams was not armed with any weapon.
Mandy Adams told the court her husband Eugene was the breadwinner and provider for the family. She said the father of four had worked hard, including at sideline jobs, to support the children through their schooling.
“Since his death everything has disintegrated. I have to pay off the bond repayments and one of the children could not study further because of a loss of income.
“I do not know when last my children and I pushed a trolley in the shop to do grocery shopping. That was taken away from us. My children have lost their mentor,” Adams said.
Daily News