Durban — The Phoenix man convicted of five murders and six attempted murders has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Durban High Court for each of the killings.
Kista Chetty was convicted of the 2021 murders of his wife Elisha Naidoo, 39, his 13-year-old daughter Jadene, his 9-year-old son Jordan, the 8-year-old Aarav (Liam) and his 3-year-old nephew, Aldrin.
At the time, the family lived in a bedroom they rented in a house on Kidstone Place in Phoenix.
Chetty’s brother-in-law Deon Naidoo and others lived in the lounge of the same house. There were 12 of them living in the house.
He pleaded not guilty to the five counts of murder and six attempted murder counts levelled against him by the State.
His defence was that he had not intended to kill his family, he wanted to kill himself by setting himself alight.
Judge Carol Sibiya sentenced Chetty to seven years imprisonment for each of the attempted murders and seven years for arson. These are to run concurrently with the life terms.
Since Chetty was found guilty of premeditated murders, the minimum prescribed sentence the court has to impose is life.
His Legal Aid attorney Musa Chiliza had asked the court to deviate from the minimum sentence of life imprisonment in mitigation of sentence.
Judge Sibiya, in sentencing, said it was clear from the pre-sentencing report compiled by the probation officer that not all of Chetty’s family members had forgiven him.
“The brother and sister of Elisha have not forgiven him. They blame him, saying the accused’s actions influenced the death of their father. The accused’s father is still very angry at him and has not gone to visit or spoken to him since the incident.
“What appeared from the probation officer’s report is that the neighbours of the accused were also victims. One also spoke of the trauma of being stuck in a flat with a 10-year-old child. They still have flashbacks. They still hear the helpless screams,” Judge Sibiya said.
She said that the crime Chetty committed was executed in a shockingly brutal manner against a group of vulnerable people.
“Those inside the house were crying for help that never came and those outside watched as efforts to stop the fire resulted in nothing. The aggravating factors in the crime far outweigh the accused’s personal circumstances which don’t constitute exceptional and compelling circumstances to deviate from the minimum sentence.”
In aggravation of sentence, senior State prosecutor Krishen Shah said the four children died the most excruciating painful death imaginable in a fire deliberately set by the accused.
“He has shown no remorse with no tear being shed. It is rather apparent that if the accused shows regret, remorse would be him taking the court into his confidence and telling it what happened and telling Zulu (the probation officer) what happened. In fact, what he chose to do was further embroider the truth as to what happened,” Shad said.
Chetty started the fire after a physical fight with Naidoo. Chetty was pushed out of the house by his wife and daughter and locked out.
“This is gender-based violence (GBV) and intimate partner case also known as femicide. The accused is atypical of toxic men not taking responsibility and blaming others, saying none of this would have happened had it not been for Deon (Naidoo), painting him as a demon,” said Shah.
Shah said that Elisha was the accused’s target for aggression and not Naidoo, who was defenceless and asleep at the time Chetty started the fire.
“Elisha was unrecognisable and completely charred when compared to children’s bodies.”
Citing case law, Shah said a GBV expert said almost three women are killed by their intimate partners a day in South Africa and some 52% of women were killed by their intimate partners in 2017.
“KZN records the second highest number of these incidents. It would be misdirection to deviate from the minimum sentence.”
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