Two men who killed a 12-year-old girl in her Bethelsdorp home and injured her father were this week each sentenced to an effective 30 years in jail in the Eastern Cape High Court in Port Elizabeth.
Aaliyah Tee and her family had been asleep when Deon Harmse, 24, and Nealon Redhouse attacked them around 23:00 on June 7, 2016, police spokesperson Priscilla Naidu said at the time.
Her father refused to open the door after hearing loud knocking on the front door and the men kicked open the back door.
They shot Aaliyah once and her father three times.
Harmse was arrested a week after the shooting, while Redhouse was arrested the following month at a house in Bethelsdorp, near Port Elizabeth.
Police confiscated a 9mm pistol, ammunition bulletproof vests and two cellphones.
Justice served
Redhouse was sentenced to an effective 18 years in February for another case involving two murders in November 2015.
On Thursday, he and Harmse were convicted and sentenced for murder, attempted murder, impersonating a police officer, housebreaking with intent to commit murder and possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The High Court imposed 89 years imprisonment, of which the convicts will serve an effective 30, said Naidu.
Redhouse would only start serving his sentence for the case once he had finished serving his 18-year sentence for the 2015 case.
Eastern Cape police provincial commissioner Lieutenant General Liziwe Ntshinga said the sentences indicated that justice had been served.
"Credit must be given to the investigating team, prosecutors, the first responders at the crime scene, forensic experts and all those involved in securing a watertight case against these criminals.
"At the same time, we hope that [Tee family] will derive strength from the fact that those who inflicted this painful experience in their lives have been sent to jail for a very long time."
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