JOHANNESBURG - “I don’t want them to kill God’s people anymore.”
Those are the heartbreaking words of the youngest child of murder victims Lucky and Sabeliwe Mogashoa after learning that her parents’ killers had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
The toddler expressed a mix of relief, joy and sadness after her grandmother told her the two men would spend the rest of their lives behind bars for murdering her parents.
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In an emotional voice recording released by Sabeliwe’s family, the child says she knows her parents are watching over her.
The Mogashoa family was travelling on the N12 on 16 March 2022 when they were lured to the Etwatwa off-ramp.
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Former police Vehicle Crime Unit officer Jacob Mothibe Chego falsely told the couple that their vehicle had been reported stolen in 2018 and had since been recovered.
With their two children -- aged one and six at the time -- still in the car, the family was kidnapped.
Lucky and Sabeliwe were taken to a nearby field and both were shot in the head. Sabeliwe was heavily pregnant at the time. Their children witnessed the murders.
Chego and serial killer Rassie Hlabirwa Nkuna abandoned the children in the vehicle and fled.
The six-year-old then walked back to the N12 carrying the one-year-old and managed to flag down passing motorists for help.
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According to police, the eldest child provided crucial evidence that led to the pair’s arrest and later testified in court, helping secure their convictions.
In June 2026, four years after the murders, the Gauteng High Court sitting in Pretoria found Nkuna and Chego guilty of premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, fraud and robbery.
According to police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe, Nkuna is already serving a sentence for the murders of his former girlfriend, Pretty Mazibuko, and her sister, Marcia, in Mpumalanga.
Nkuna has also been linked to the murder of Hillary Gardee, the daughter of former Economic Freedom Fighters secretary-general Godrich Gardee.
Hillary Gardee was kidnapped and murdered in Mbombela in May 2022. Her body was dumped along a deserted stretch of the Sabie Road, where it was later discovered by passers-by.
Nkuna is expected to stand trial for Gardee’s murder next year.