children were playing on the streets of Grassy Park, where young Nahemia Classen was playing just meters from his front door on Parkers Walk.
As gunshots rang out in the streets, little Nahemia was struck by a bullet and rushed to hospital. Sadly, he was pronounced dead on arrival and this left the community reeling in the shock.
The killer was identified and arrested a short while later. Christopher Kemp, a member of the Mongrels gang, had allegedly been shot days before by members of the Six Bob gang. He returned to wreak his revenge and fired a series of rounds at a group of the opposing gang members, missing his target and hitting innocent Nahemia, who was playing outside.
Gang member Christopher Kemp took the stand in his own defence, determined he could outwit the legal system. He “couldn’t have shot Nahemia, he plead, as he had “loaded his firearm with hollow-tip bullets, and they would have killed instantly, where as Nahemia only died sometime later.”
Judge Leese warned the accused “not to listen to legal experts inside prison,” as it was his own freedom that was on the line.
With a case that has run several years, Kemp was not released on bail and was remanded into custody until the case was concluded. With him being found guilty on all accounts, the matter was concluded on 18th of February in Wynberg Court, where he was to be sentenced. With a packed court room, his state attorney appealed desperately to the Judge in trying to get a lean sentence. The legal defence suggested to the judge that “residents living in gang areas are well aware of the dangers associated and they make a choice to remain in these areas.”
Acting Judge Amanda Leeve severely reprimanded the attorney and criticised the statement in her handing down of the sentence, sentencing Christopher Kemp to life in prison for the murder, as well as 28 years for the other charges.
In her closing remarks, Judge Leeve delivered her sentence and told Kemp that the courts had a duty to protect the
communities from such ruthless killers, who show little to no regard for the safety of others. “The people living in these gang areas, do not make the choice to live there, rather they are held captive by these very gangs and they have no other choice,” she said.
She found that while he may not have had the intention to shoot Nahemia, Kemp still had the intention to kill another human being, and the action was the same. Speaking to Kemp, she criticised him by saying “you want to put a gun in your hand but you don’t even know how to use it properly.”
In handing down the sentence, she announced to the court that it was her hope the sentence would send a strong message out to gangs across the city, that the courts were going to be taking harsh approach to gangsterism, even where there are unintended victims.
Although the case had taken almost 5 years to finalize, the case was able to proceed only because the suspect was arrested and reprimanded in custody for the duration of the case. Too often, those accused are released back into their communities to await their time before being called back to court, or who then themselves disappear. To win the war on gangsterism, we need to improve the conviction rate – bringing cases to trial faster and by keeping the accused in custody, when involved in such violent crimes.
To win the war on gangsterism, we need to improve the conviction rate https://t.co/HHLt1E6OLM#ArriveAlive #Gangsterism #RoadSafety #JPSmith pic.twitter.com/4XYT2Kgtt8
– Arrive Alive (@_ArriveAlive) February 25, 2025