Cape Town - The family of Charlene October on Tuesday said her ex-husband, Ashley October, doesn’t deserve freedom after he was found guilty of her murder.
In a decision that shocked both the State and defence, Judge Rosheni Allie on Monday handed down judgment in the matter just hours after October’s lawyer, Dorian van Zyl, submitted the latter part of his final arguments.
Charlene’s sister Alexa said: “We’re so, so relieved that judgment was passed and that we can finally heal knowing my sister won’t just be a statistic.
“She didn’t deserve anything he put her through, her children never deserved to be orphaned, my mom never should have laid her child to rest. I hope he spends the rest of his natural life in jail. He does not deserve freedom,” she said.
Tashwell van der Rhede and his former employer, October, were jointly charged with murder, housebreaking with intent to commit murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and attempting to defeat the administration of justice.
October was also charged with two counts of incitement to murder and one of conspiracy to rob and murder.
State advocate Leon Snyman proved to the court that the two had set out and planned to murder Charlene on the night of July 11, 2021, after October had on two occasions – in 2011 and 2012 – asked two of his other employees to do the deed.
When her body was found the next day, the crime scene had been made to look like a suicide but also a robbery.
Van der Rhede, when testifying, admitted that he had accompanied
October that evening to stage the robbery but left before he could see anything happening to Charlene.
October, on the other hand, failed to testify in his own defence or call any witnesses after the court found that the State did have a case against him.
Both Van der Rhede and October were found guilty on all counts as the court accepted the circumstantial evidence proffered by advocate Snyman in trying to secure a guilty verdict.
Judge Allie said: “Taking into account the evidence implicating accused two (October), which he has failed to adduce testimony on, thereby causing that evidence to become conclusive proof, I am satisfied that accused two is guilty. Accused one is guilty by virtue of common purpose.”