Aide to Winnie Mandela Escapes Death Sentence
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — The South African appeals court Tuesday commuted the death sentence for murder imposed upon Winnie Mandela’s chief bodyguard, saying he had acted under her influence.
The court said that Jerry Richardson, head of Winnie Mandela’s group of bodyguards known as the Mandela Football Club, instead should serve a life prison sentence for the murder of teen-age activist Stompie Seipei in January, 1989.
Mandela, the estranged wife of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, has been convicted of kidnaping Seipei and three other activists and being an accessory to assaults on them.
The four activists were taken to Winnie Mandela’s house in Soweto, the black satellite city outside Johannesburg, where they were beaten by Richardson and others and accused of being traitors to the ANC cause. Seipei was stabbed to death.
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