TWO MEN have been convicted of the attempted murder of South African-based Irish priest Fr Kieran Creagh last year.
Godfrey Phatlane and Edward Lesuifi, of no fixed abode, were charged at Attridgeville Magistrate's Court, near Pretoria, with the attempted murder of Fr Creagh. The incident followed a robbery by nine men at the hospice Fr Creagh established in Attridgeville in early March 2007.
As the armed men searched the hospice, they knocked on Fr Creagh's apartment door. When he answered, and refused to let them in, he was shot three times in the doorway.
Last week Dr Pregasan Chetty, who treated Fr Creagh on the way to Pretoria's Suid Afrikans hospital following the shooting, told the court the Belfast-born priest was minutes away from dying when he came on the scene.
"When I got to Fr Creagh he was gasping. I think that another two minutes without treatment and he would have died," said Dr Chetty.
Before giving his ruling, magistrate Allan Cowan told the court he found the evidence given during the trial by Fr Creagh and the witnesses to the incident to be "credible". However, he believed the evidence given by the two accused was "shaky".
Both men had offered alibis to the court in relation to their whereabouts on the night of the shooting, but when compelled to produce witnesses who could corroborate their stories, they could not.
After the closing statements yesterday magistrate Cowan said that after reviewing all the evidence, he saw no reason not to convict the accused of attempted murder, as well as the robbery they were charged with.
The minimum sentence for attempted murder in a South African court is 15 years, but both convicted men have until September 9th to give reasons why they should not receive the maximum sentence.
Speaking after the trial, Fr Creagh, who became a household name in 2004 when he volunteered to be the first person in Africa to have a new HIV/Aids vaccine tested on him even though he did not have the disease, said he was relieved it was all over, but saddened at the waste of two lives.
"I am relieved it is finally over but I would much rather if these two young men were going home to live with their families and to lead good lives. Fifteen years in jail is a waste of life," he said.
When asked if he intended to stay on in South Africa to continue his work, Fr Creagh said he was happy to do so for the time being.
"I want to finish the projects, which include the construction of a creche and a church next to our hospice here, but I'm not saying I will stay here forever," he concluded.