Victim's family shake hands with guilt-ridden chef after confession and plea bargain.
|||The scene outside Court C at the Wynberg Regional Court yesterday was emotional.
On one side was the grief-stricken but brave-faced family of Wynberg businessman Sulaiman Brey, who was killed 11 years ago.
On the other was Raafiq Abrahams – the 25-year-old chef who caused Brey’s death – who confessed to the murder 11 years later, after the guilt of having taken a life had eaten away at him.
They shook hands, almost awkwardly, before parting ways.
Abrahams had just been sentenced to three years of house arrest for his crime in a deal, known commonly as a plea bargain, negotiated with the State in consultation with the Brey family.
Abrahams killed Brey in his Wittebome Superette in Wynberg after a botched robbery on November 13, 2002.
He was never caught and moved on with his life, leaving South Africa in 2008 to work and study in the United Arab Emirates.
He qualified as a chef and worked at the Armani Hotel in Dubai for a year before moving on to work at the Gustav Restaurant for another year.
While in Dubai, he injured his leg so badly that he couldn’t stand.
He decided to return to South Africa and, still plagued by the fact that he had killed Brey, decided to visit Brey’s brother Akkil, and come clean.
Yesterday, before Magistrate Gavin du Plessis, Abrahams pleaded guilty to culpable homicide and attempted robbery with aggravating circumstances.
In a document before the court, he admitted that he went to Brey’s shop at about 10am, armed with a knife, with the intention of robbing him.
WASN’T ANTICIPATING A FIGHT
“I knew that he was an elderly gentleman and I thought that he would not resist when I demanded money from him.
“I admit that I hit the deceased over the head with the knife but, unlike I imagined, the gentleman started fighting with me in order to gain control over the knife.
“I admit that we were both on the ground when I took the knife and stabbed the deceased,” he said.
He fled the scene and, only when he saw Brey’s funeral procession, did he realise Brey had died.
“I still did not tell anybody what had happened and continued with my life. I continued my schooling and later went overseas to work, and I always felt guilty about what had happened and I could not live with the fact that I had caused the death of somebody else, and had gotten away with it.
“In 2012 I returned home after injuring my leg in Abu Dhabi. The guilt was eating away at me and on 7 December 2012 I approached the brother of the deceased and informed him that I was responsible for his brother’s death.”
From a probation officer’s report before the court it emerged that Abrahams had had an unstable childhood and troubled life, experimenting with drugs.
As a child, he was sent to a adolescent centre but he was expelled after two months for smoking dagga there. He absconded from two other youth-care centres.
After his mother gave him an ultimatum at the age of 14, he chose to leave and live on the streets.
He was homeless for two months before a friend took him in, and from there he moved from home to home.
Today he is back with his family in Kenwyn.
The report stated that Abrahams repressed the thought of Brey’s death in order to cope. He also said he believed that, if he was not punished in this life, he would be in the hereafter.
He decided to come clean and give Brey’s family closure.
Abrahams was sentenced to five years wholly suspended for the attempted robbery, and eight years wholly suspended for culpable homicide.
In addition, a period of three years’ correctional supervision was imposed, during which he has to remain under house arrest and perform community service.
In a statement, the National Prosecuting Authority said it took its hat off to the Brey family for showing that “restorative justice exists, and can be practised despite the family’s tragic circumstances”.
Spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said the family had agreed to victim-offender mediation.
Brey’s daughter, Fowzia Sonday, said she was satisfied with the outcome. -Weekend Argus