PRETORIA-”It was a brutal killing”, a judge told Nigel Kahari before sentencing him to an effective 14 years imprisonment for stabbing to death Moroccan diplomat Fatmi Noureddine.
After killing the diplomat in a guesthouse in Pretoria, the Zimbabwean national stole his possessions.
The 21-year-old Kahari did not show much emotion as he was taken down to the holding cells at the high court in Pretoria to start serving his sentence.
Kahari earlier testified that he went into a rage and “overkill” when he stabbed the diplomat 42 times with a kitchen knife in the Water-kloof guesthouse where Noureddine stayed at the time.
He said he believed the diplomat had had sex with him while he was asleep, as he woke up naked next to him.
But Judge Mohamed Ismail, in sentencing him, said there was no evidence in this regard.
Kahari simply concluded that the diplomat took sexual advantage of him because he was naked.
The incident occurred in the early morning of October 6 in 2014, after Noureddine invited Kahari to his room.
The two met while Kahari was a packer at the Spar supermarket in Monument Park. Kahari hoped the diplomat could find him better employment.
They often watched soccer together in the diplomat’s room, but Kahari said he had no idea that the man was gay or had homosexual tendencies.
He was invited over for dinner, together with two women, at the guesthouse on the eve of the stabbing, but Kahari said when he got there, it was only the two of them.
They spent the evening drinking several whiskies, while Noureddine made dinner. Kahari said he felt dizzy at a stage and his next recollection was waking up naked next to the diplomat.
He said he was extremely upset and asked the man what happened. Noureddine told him to calm down, but he became enraged. He tried to leave the room, but he could not find the key to unlock the door.
Kahari stormed to the kitchen, where he grabbed a knife and repeatedly stabbed the diplomat.
He then took a shower, before taking several of Noureddine’s items, including a large sum of cash and camera. On his way out, he took a picture of the diplomat’s naked buttocks.
But Judge Ismail found that Kahari was not candid with the court about what happened.
He at first said the diplomat attacked him first, but when a pathologist who examined the body said this could not be true, Kahari changed his story.
His explanation for taking the photo of the dead man was also rejected.
“You plundered him and then took pictures of his lifeless body. You had time to reflect on your actions (after the killing), but you then embarked on a mission to take his belongings,” the judge said.-IOL
