South African sentenced to life in prison for death of man thrown into lio

[Judi Lynn]

South African sentenced to life in prison for death of man thrown into lion pen

ASSOCIATED PRESS

6:29 a.m. September 30, 2005

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – A white farmer convicted in the murder of one of his former black workers who was thrown into a lion enclosure was sentenced Friday to life in prison.
Mark Scott-Crossley and one of his employees were convicted in April of the January 2004 killing of Nelson Chisale in a case that shocked a nation still coming to grips with its apartheid past.

Scott-Crossley's employee and co-defendant, Simon Mathebula, was sentenced to 15 years because the judge said there were substantial and compelling circumstances to justify a lesser sentence.

Chisale, 41, had been fired two months earlier for apparently running a personal errand during work hours. When he returned to pick up some belongings, he was beaten with machetes, tied up, driven to a nearby lion reserve, and thrown over the fence.
(snip/...)

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20050930-0629-southafrica-liontrial.html


http://www.iol.co.za/data/picdb/2/a/picdb4271c8498d082 http://www.iol.co.za/data/picdb/d/4/picdb41f5d788c4441
http://www.iol.co.za/data/picdb/6/f/newspic41ff2fd736bc9

Mark Scott-Crossley

[benburch]

1. I'd want HIM thrown to the lions...

Except that would be bad for the lions!

[Sequoia]

4. Bet he's a fundie too. Let's do throw him to the lions and he can

cry, "Daniel, I'm Daniel...save me."

"Crunchy critter", said the Lion King.

[tatertop]

2. he looks like a real peach

at least he was convicted

[AllyCat]

3. Oh! Is he related to Bush*??? He's flipping the one-fingered salute!

What a jerk! Life in prison is fitting...do they have parole in Suid Afrika? I hope not. Gee, I wonder if they have lots of "black criminals" in jail there too. Should make for some interesting dinner conversations.

[CottonBear]

5. What an evil man.

<snip>

"No crime fits this description more than the one before me and there is no doubt it would warrant this extreme punishment," the judge said.

According to testimony at the trial, Chisale was assaulted with machetes on Jan. 31, 2004 and tied to a stake. After being tied up and bleeding for six or seven hours, Chisale was taken to the Mokwalo White Lion Project and thrown over the fence, screaming as the animals tore at his body.

Maluleke said Scott-Crossley had masterminded the attack, forcing his employees to participate in the crime.

Witnesses at the trial portrayed Scott-Crossley as a man with a history of aggression and violence.

more...
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20050930-0629-southafrica-liontrial.html

[Judi Lynn]

6. Very odd ripples from the trial:Reporter's impartiality 'was compromised'

Reporter's impartiality 'was compromised'

September 30 2005 at 03:13AM

News reporter Alameen Templeton has been suspended with immediate effect by The Star pending an inquiry into his decision to testify on behalf of the state in the so-called lion murder trial in Phalaborwa.

His testimony on Thursday was led in sentencing deliberations during the trial of Mark Scott-Crossley and Simon Mathebula for the murder of Nelson Chisale, who had been thrown into a lion's enclosure and killed. Templeton was immediately pulled off the case because his impartiality had been compromised by his testimony.

Templeton, who earlier this month resigned from his post at The Star and is serving his notice period, failed to consult or inform his news editor or editor about his intention to testify.

Moegsien Williams, the editor of The Star, stated: "I am extremely annoyed with the prosecuting authorities who believe they can willy-nilly call on reporters to testify in criminal matters without due regard for the consequences. As no subpoena was issued, it is clear the prosecutor in this matter, Ivy Thenga, did not apply her mind properly. After Templeton's testimony, did she expect him to return to the press bench and report on the case as if nothing had happened?

'Journalists must be seen to be impartial'
"Journalists must be seen to be impartial, objective and independent and to be able to report freely and without hindrance on matters of public interest. The prosecuting authority in the Phalaborwa case, by calling Templeton to the witness stand, compromised The Star's ability to fulfil this role as outlined in section 16 of the country's constitution."
(snip/...)

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20050930062405677C254255

[Judi Lynn]

7. Scott-Crossley not a bad person, says lawyer

Scott-Crossley not a bad person, says lawyer

September 30 2005 at 03:19AM

(Click for photo)
http://www.iol.co.za/data/picdb/b/1/newspic433ce202d01be

High spirits: Mark Scott-Crossley, who was
found guilty of murdering his farmworker,
Nelson Chisale, was in a joking mood as he
chatted to his girlfriend during a break in the
trial at the Phalaborwa circuit court. Photo:
Bathini Mbatha, The Star

Mark Scott-Crossley - who threw a man to lions to die - was not a bad person.

This was heard at the Phalaborwa circuit court in Limpopo on Thursday.

"He (Scott-Crossley) has got good attributes," his counsel, Johann Engelbrecht, told Judge George Maluleke.

He was speaking during closing arguments in the deliberations on the sentence Scott-Crossley should receive for masterminding the murder of Nelson Chisale, who was assaulted and then fed to lions in Hoedspruit in January last year.
(snip/...)

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20050930062347615C638564

[benburch]

8. Hitler (like Bush) loved his dog.

But both were evil bad people.

[renate]

9. I think someone who causes somebody to be attacked with machetes,

tied to a stake, and then thrown to the lions is BY DEFINITION a bad person.

JMHO.

[Judi Lynn]

11. I think he is utterly evil. Can't imagine ANYONE so depraved he could

dream of bringing this kind of suffering to another person. My God.

S.African jailed for life for feeding man to lion
Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:03 PM BST

Related Pictures

By Ed Stoddard

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A white farmer convicted of murder for feeding a black worker to lions was jailed for life by a South African judge on Friday, ending a racially charged case which highlighted abuse of rural black labourers.

The South African Press Association (SAPA) reported that Mark Scott-Crossley -- who got married in court just before being sentenced -- was given life and black labourer Simon Mathebula was sentenced to 15 years, partly suspended, for his role in a murder which shocked the crime-hardened nation.

"Let him rot in jail," someone shouted from the back of the crush of people streaming from the courtroom, SAPA reported.

The men were convicted in April.

The grisly killing of 41-year-old farm worker Nelson Chisale provoked an outcry in South Africa where, more than a decade after the end of apartheid rule, some white farmers are still accused of abusing and exploiting black workers.
(snip/...)

~~~~ link ~~~~
(Click on thumbprints for larger photos)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

South Africa: Man who threw a black man to lion's den imprisoned for life

Durban, Sept 30 (PTI) A white South African farmer who threw a black man into a lions' den after a murder that shocked the nation was today sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mark Scott-Crossley, 37, was sent to jail for the rest of his life after the judge, Justice George Maluleke, described the killing of Nelson Chisale, 41, as one of the most "gruesome" incidents he had been confronted with.

Scott-Crossley's black accomplice, Simon Mathebula, 43, was sentenced to 15 years in jail.

They were found guilty in April of the murder of Chisale, who was thrown into a lions den near Pretoria last year.

Chisale was mauled by lions and his remains were found a week after he went missing.

All that was found of Chisale was a shaft of long bones, a skull with no mandible, fragments of rib , vertebrae, a pelvic girdle, a finger, his shredded shirt and ripped pair of khaki trousers.

Justice Maluleke said Chisale's murder was so monstrous that the demand from society for a life sentence was legitimate.
(snip)

http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/A2B000762105FAB66525708C0058DF8E?OpenDocument

On edit:

On rereading the first article, finally focused on the reason for his grudge against the murdered man:

The court ruled in April that Scott-Crossley had held a grudge against Chisale after he complained to the labour authorities.
(snip)

In testimony earlier this year, the court heard that Chisale was assaulted when he returned to collect his belongings from the farm where he previously worked.

It heard that Scott-Crossley had kicked a wound Chisale had received in the attack, pointed a gun at him and told him to pray.
(snip)

It would appear he had a long time to stew, and nurse his grudges, time in which he could have also come to his senses, if he weren't simple filth. This was NOTHING he can justify in a million years.

[pitohui]

10. jeezus what's the matter w. ppl?

how could you even dream up something that cruel, was he caligula in a past life or something?

i hope this dude never gets out

[Tight_rope]

12. Jail is too good for him....Throw him in with the lions and the tigers!

[Judi Lynn]

13. Kick...

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. He looks like a thug

:scared:

[Gloria]

15. Life for farmer who threw man to lions (Black man in S. Africa killed)

I've been following this story via the BBC World Service. Today, the culmination.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/southafrica/story/0,13262,1582447,00.html

Life for farmer who threw man to lions

· Black employee identified from severed finger
· Murder exacerbates racial tensions in South Africa

Andrew Meldrum in Pretoria
Saturday October 1, 2005
The Guardian

A white farmer convicted of murdering a black former employee and throwing him to a pride of lions was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday at the end of a case that hit a raw nerve across South Africa, highlighting simmering racial tensions 11 years after the end of apartheid.

Crowds of angry black people inside and outside the courtroom in the small rural town of Phalaborwa cheered when Judge George Maluleke sentenced Mark Scott-Crossley to life imprisonment. Simon Mathebula, an employee of Scott-Crossleya who was also convicted of the murder, received 15 years, with three years suspended, as the judge ruled that he was merely an accomplice.

The two men were convicted of killing Nelson Chisale in January 2004. Mr Chisale had been sacked by Scott-Crossley a month before but returned to the farm to retrieve some pots and pans. He was seized by Mathebula, who tied him to a tree and, with Scott-Crossley, beat him until he lost consciousness, the court was told.

Scott-Crossley then used his pickup truck to carry Mr Chisale several miles away to a farm where rare white lions were being bred. With the help of Mathebula and two other employees, Scott-Crossley threw Mr Chisale into an enclosure which held five lions.

All that was found of Mr Chisale were a few bones and some shredded clothes. His remains were identified by a single finger from which police could take a print. Although the autopsy stated that Mr Chisale had died from being "mauled by lions", it was not clear whether he was dead before being thrown into the pen or not.

MORE

[madaboutharry]

16. It will be a very long time

for this wound to heal. The racism did not end with the fall of apartheid. There is a woman I know from South Africa who actually made the following statement to me: "The Blacks are ruining South Africa." I will never get over that statement. I have no doubt that she is not alone in her opinion.

[Judi Lynn]

17. Oh, God! That's one for the record.

Probably the most contemptible statement I've ever heard.