A HEINZ Park man who was sentenced to 40 years in the mang for the brutal rape and murder of Janika Mello has won an application to appeal his conviction and sentence.
The application by Allester Abraham to challenge the conviction at the Western Cape High Court comes just seven months after he was sentenced for the horrific incident which led to Janika’s death.
Janika, who was a Grade 6 pupil at Northwood Primary School in Woodlands, went to a karaoke at Portlands High School to support a local soccer club on 31 August 2019.
The teen was later dropped off by a taxi close to her home and her half-naked body was found in her backyard the following morning.
According to crime scene photographs, cops found multiple used condoms on the scene while the post-mortem report indicates that she had multiple vaginal and anal injuries.
Abraham went on trial alongside Leeroy Rose and the duo were subsequently found guilty and were sentenced to 20 years in jail for murder and received an additional 20 years for both rape counts.
Abraham also received an additional eight months on a charge of assault.
Late last year, Abraham’s lawyer told the court that he would bring the leave to appeal application amid new facts which came to light after the trial.
According to the application by Abraham after the conviction, Rose allegedly bragged while being transported to prison that he had falsely implicated Abraham in the murder.
Inmates who overheard the conversation were called to testify in January and the leave to appeal was granted. Abraham was also subsequently released on R500 bail and his lawyers now have to submit their appeal to the court.
Janika’s ouma Pauline Butler confirms they were informed of the decision, but says they are gatvol of the justice system.
She says: ‘I was informed of the outcome and that he is now out on bail.
“The community is upset that he is out and as a family we are just tired and gatvol of the justice system.
“It took so many years just to get a trial and then so long for an outcome and just when we thought we could heal and try to move on with our lives we must now deal with this.
“I have many questions and Allester should just tell the truth. We have given up hope.”