Rearrested murder accused appears in Pietermaritzburg court

Vinodhan Ashwin Chetty (42), previously convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment plus 15 years for the murder and robbery of former Pietermaritzburg resident and Pinetown businessman Paul Moses, has been rearrested and appeared in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court. The National Prosecution Authority (NPA) Spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Chetty was initially convicted and sentenced. “He then appealed his conviction and sentence on the basis that the provisions of Section 93 ter of the Magistrates Court Act had not been complied with — in that there had been no assessors when the trial was conducted.

“The appeal court set aside the conviction and sentence and noted that the Director of Public Prosecutions is entitled to reinstate the charges against the accused. When the conviction and sentence was set aside it was not an acquittal. “Therefore, when the appeal court set aside the conviction and sentence, the original court finding was reversed.

The matter could thus be heard again, and the appeal court also noted this. After a reconsideration of the matter, it was decided that the matter could be reinstated,” said Ramkisson Kara. Chetty appeared on Thursday morning, but the hearing was postponed allowing for further consultation with the Director of Public Prosecutions.

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State prosecutor Philile Phoswa told Pietermaritzburg Magistrate Sandile Ngwenya that they would like to consult and clarify items at hand. Chetty was incarcerated until November 2022, when he was released after successfully appealing his conviction and sentence due to irregularities in the court proceedings. At the time of the incident in 2014, Chetty was 31, while his co-accused, Emmanuel Manikum, was 18. During the 2019 trial, the court heard that on December 11, 2014, the pair allegedly lured Moses to Pietermaritzburg under the pretence of selling him a truck.

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