Jeweller in murder case appeal

A PHOENIX jeweller serving a life sentence for murdering his friend, also a jeweller, has lodged an appeal claiming the judge who had convicted him had misdirected himself.

Roshan Mohan, 34, was sentenced by Judge David Ntshangase in the Durban High Court in March 2011 for the murder of Ali Arshad, of Bond Street, Durban, on April 28, 2008.

Mohan also received five years for opening a false hijacking case at the Phoenix police station on the day of the murder.

Arshad’s body was found with multiple stab wounds in bush on the Bluff the following day, after he was kidnapped and bundled into Mohan’s car at the corner of Bond and Grey (Dr Yusuf Dadoo) Streets.

Judge Ntshangase had said it was highly improbable that Mohan, who did not testify at trial, did not know anything about the murder.

However, Mohan’s legal team – advocate Jimmy Howse and attorney Rajesh Hiralall – believe otherwise.

“There was no evidence to link Mohan to the murder.

“It is unclear what transpired from the point of the kidnapping and thereafter,” Howse said before the Provincial Appeal Court in Pietermaritzburg last week.

“The trial court erred that the deceased was kidnapped because Mohan had planned to have him killed.”

In his statement to police Mohan said his acquaintances, known only as S’bu and Lucky, had attacked Arshad.

His version that the pair had chased and stabbed Arshad after he alighted from the vehicle was probable, Howse said.

“It is not wrong to infer that the violent behaviour of his acquaintances caused Mohan to panic and to drive away from the crime scene.

“He did not act in common purpose in the commission of the murder. Mohan is not a danger to society.”

State advocate Happy Mazibuko argued that although Mohan claimed he was innocent, it was highly probable that he got S’bu and Lucky to do his dirty work and carry out the murder for him.

“Mohan masterminded the deceased’s kidnapping and murder.

“It is highly unlikely that S’bu and Lucky had any dealings with the deceased before the kidnapping and murder,” he said.

“Mohan, on the other hand, was committed to have his plans executed the way he wanted to.

“It is vital to bear in mind that he lied to the deceased’s wife, Waheeda, when he called her from her husband’s cellphone (and said) that he was still waiting for him.

“He also tried to mislead police by opening a false hijacking case on the same day Arshad was kidnapped and murdered.”

Said Mazibuko: “Mohan wants the court to believe that he had nothing to do with the murder. In his statement to police he described S’bu and Lucky as dangerous. Yet he had no qualms about allowing them into his vehicle after Arshad was kidnapped while the deceased’s wife looked on helplessly.

“He said he and the deceased were friends (but he) did absolutely nothing to alert police or the deceased’s wife that her husband was stabbed several times.

“The life sentence should stand because there is no evidence to show that the trial court had erred,’’ said Mazibuko.

Judgment has been reserved.