S v McBride

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Court: Appellate Division
• Judge: Corbett JA, Viljoen JA, Hefer JA, Grosskopf JA and Vivier JA
• Judgment Date: 30 March 1988
• Citation: 1988 (4) SA 10 (A)
• Hearing Date: 26 February 1988

Corbett JA:

Shortly after 21h30 on 14 June 1986 what is popularly known as a 'car-bomb' exploded outside the Parade Hotel in Marine Parade, I Durban. It was a Saturday evening and the two bars in the hotel, 'Magoo's' and the 'Why Not', were filled to capacity. These bars have windows in their outer walls and at night the people in the bars are visible from outside the hotel. The effect of the explosion was devastating. Three persons, all women, were killed and 89 were injured. The Parade Hotel building was very badly damaged: the doors and windows J were all blown out

Corbett JA

A and there was structural damage as well on all floors of the hotel. Other buildings in the vicinity were also damaged, but not as badly as the Parade Hotel. Debris from the explosion was scattered over an area described by a circle with a radius of 500 metres from the detonation point. It was obviously a very powerful explosive device.

In February 1987 the appellant, Robert John McBride, and a Miss Greta B Margaret Appelgren (I shall refer to her as accused No 2) appeared before Shearer J and two assessors in the Natal Provincial Division on a number of charges, including three charges of murder (counts 14, 15 and 16), one of attempted murder (count 17) and one of contravention of s 54(1) of the Internal Security Act 74 of 1982 - terrorism (count 18). C Charges 14 - 18 inclusive arose out of the car-bomb explosion at the Parade Hotel, the State allegation being, generally, that the appellant and accused No 2 were responsible for having planted the car-bomb, with the intent necessary to constitute the various offences charged. The other charges, some of which applied only to the appellant, related to D various offences under s 54 of the Internal Security Act (counts 1 - 5 inclusive, counts 12, 13 and 18 - 24 inclusive), another charge of murder (count 6) and four charges of attempted murder (counts 7 - 10 inclusive). Both accused pleaded not guilty on all counts.

After a lengthy trial the appellant was found guilty on the following counts: count 1 (furthering the achievement of the objects of the E African National Congress ('ANC')); count 3 (terrorism, in the form of attempting, on 6 January 1986, to plant limpet mines on certain transformers at an electricity substation in Durban); count 4 (terrorism, in the form of the detonation of limpet mines at another electricity substation in Durban on 21 March 1986); count 5 (terrorism, F in the form of an attack upon the home of Mr and Mrs Y P Klein in Wentworth, Durban, during the night of 30 April/1 May 1986, in which hand-grenades were hurled into the bedroom of the house and both Mr and Mrs Klein were injured by shrapnel); counts 7 and 10 (lesser verdicts of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm) and count 11 (aiding a prisoner to escape), these counts all relating to a commando-like attack G upon the Edenvale Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, on 4 May 1986, with the object of 'rescuing' from police custody a prisoner known as Gordon Webster, who was being treated in the hospital, and to the successful achievement of this 'rescue'; count 12 (concealing and harbouring a terrorist, to wit the aforementioned Webster, over the period 4 - 9 May H 1986); count 13 (the placing of an explosive device in a parking garage in contravention of s 54(2)(a) and (f) of the Internal Security Act, the evidence establishing that the intention was not that the device should explode, but that its discovery should cause disruption of traffic and general alarm); counts 14 - 18 inclusive, the substance of which has been I stated, and in regard to the three convictions for murder (counts 14, 15 and 16) the Court found, by a majority, that there were no extenuating circumstances; count 19 (terrorism in the form of the detonation of a limpet mine, placed in a refuse bin, in a Durban street on 22 June 1986); count 20 (terrorism in the form of exploding limpet mines on a vegetable oil tank in Durban on 22 June 1986); count 21 (terrorism in the form of exploding explosive devices on certain oil pipe-lines in J Wentworth, Durban, on 22 June 1986) - the acts to which

Corbett JA

A counts 19, 20 and 21 relate having been committed on a single expedition; count 22 (terrorism in the form of placing and detonating limpet mines on certain water pipes in the vicinity of the R628 freeway at Westville, Durban, on the night of 29/30 June 1986); and count 23 (terrorism in the form of establishing certain caches containing arms, ammunition and explosives in Wentworth, Durban). It is not necessary to B detail the counts upon which accused No 2 was found guilty, save to say that she was acquitted on all the charges relating to the car-bomb explosion at the Parade Hotel.

In respect of counts 14, 15 and 16 the trial Judge imposed death sentences on appellant, while in respect of the other counts on which he C was found guilty the appellant was sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Shearer J further granted leave to appeal to this Court against the finding, in regard to counts 14, 15 and 16, that there were no extenuating circumstances. That is the appeal now before us.

The facts relating to the car-bomb explosion and appellant's D participation in the crimes connected therewith are hardly in dispute and the following account is culled mainly from appellant's own evidence.

At the time of the car-bomb occurrence the appellant was 22 years and about 11 months old. He had met the aforementioned Gordon Webster in 1983 and a friendship had developed between the two of them. Webster was E a member of the ANC and he recruited the appellant as a member towards the end of 1985. Appellant was assigned to the military wing of the ANC, known as 'Umkhonto we sizwe', under the 'special operations division' and received training in Botswana in the operation of weapons, such as rifles and pistols, and the use of explosives. Initially his function was to provide transport and establish arms caches in various places, F under the command of Webster. Later he undertook responsibility for sabotage operations. He then selected the targets and planned and, for the most part, executed the attacks. The convictions on the various counts detailed above bear witness to the scope of his activities in this sphere.

In June 1986 the appellant went to Botswana to try to arrange G compensation for the dependants of an ANC member who was shot and killed by the South African police when Webster was arrested. He returned to his home in Wentworth, Durban, on 13 June 1986. He thereupon learned that a nation-wide state of emergency had been declared and many people, including community leaders and certain of his friends, had been detained. He heard stories of police brutality. He himself saw people H being rounded up for detention. He read reports of what was happening in the press. All this enraged him. He saw it as a 'calculated form of repression' against his people. As a member of the ANC and 'Umkhonto we sizwe', he felt that he had to do 'something about it'. He thought about it and on the morning of 14 June decided to make a car-bomb. As he put it:

I 'If they want war, I am going to give them war. That's what was going through my mind.'

He then set about making a bomb. He purchased a motor car, a powder-blue 1978 Ford Cortina, from a used-car dealer and paid for it out of the compensation money which he had brought from Botswana. After J that he went into town (ie Durban) to choose a target. He wanted a target

Corbett JA

A that was centrally situated so that the effect of the explosion could not be hidden away. He eventually selected Hyperama House and Home ('Hyperama'), a large glass-fronted building in West Street. His intention was to 'flatten that thing, destroy it'. Later in the day, after dark, he fetched explosives from an arms cache. With these he B constructed the bomb in the boot of the Cortina motor car. In addition to the explosive materials and detonating devices he also included 200 AK47 bullets and a number of pieces of burglar-proofing iron (which he cut for the purpose) to act as shrapnel when the bomb went off.

He had earlier told one of his ANC accomplices, Matthew Lecordier (who C gave evidence as a State witness), to make himself available that evening to meet some ANC friends. He fetched Lecordier at about 19h45. He had also arranged to meet accused No 2 on the pretext of going to a drive-in cinema. She came in her sister's motor car, a greenish brown Mazda 323. Appellant and Lecordier drove off in the Cortina; and accused No 2 was instructed to follow in the Mazda, to park in Field Street, D which turns off West Street close to Hyperama, and to wait for appellant and Lecordier. Appellant then headed for West Street. On the way he told Lecordier for the first time of the bomb in the boot of the car. (This does not accord with the evidence of Lecordier, who says that he was told about it earlier, but nothing turns on this.) Appellant described to Lecordier his plan to park the motor car in West Street outside E Hyperama and to detonate the bomb there. Upon their arrival at Hyperama appellant parked the Cortina and waited for accused No 2 to pass in the Mazda. She did. Appellant then told Lecordier that he was going to initiate the explosive device. Lecordier's response was to tell appellant that he was 'wasting 50 kg of explosives' there and he asked F the appellant why he did not take the bomb down to the Marine Parade 'because the people want White destruction'. Appellant demurred, saying that it was not the policy of the ANC to attack White people. An argument then ensued, which became fairly heated. Ultimately appellant succumbed to Lecordier's persuasions and did not activate the bomb in West Street. In the course of the argument Lecordier had mentioned a G veranda or balcony on the Marine Parade where White people sat and had...